Memories of the Dust Bowl, World War II, and one-room school houses are fading faster than the photos that record them. In Raising the West, twelve women share their experiences growing up in the 1930s; from attending weathering terrible storms to facing deadly childhood illnesses, surviving periods of financial hardship, playing with paper dolls, raising children, maintaining marriages for fifty years or more, and making a life and a living in the Midwest. Raising the West encapsulates countless life lessons and showcases the changes a hundred years can bring.