"In this well-written monograph Paula M. Nelson tells the story of the settlement of 'west river country,' that part of South Dakota west of the Missouri River…Nelson's major contribution is her reconstruction of the social life of this generation of settlers…Nelson is particularly sensitive to the experience of pioneer women, both those who labored within the family and those single women who homesteaded on their own."—American Historical Review

"After the West Was Won is an impressively researched and beautifully written study…Nelson also conveys the sense of pain and suffering that pioneers in western South Dakota endured; the technology of steam, electricity, and internal combustion failed to create utopia in a primitive area after the West was won."—Technology and Culture

"Paula M. Nelson's account of the trials and tribulations of the pioneers of that flat, windswept plain is a welcome addition to the literature on the agricultural frontier."—Journal of American History

“. . . the best study available on the settlement of a portion of the last frontier and a very significant contribution to Great Plains history. Nelsen’s book is full of human interest. It is a people’s history that rings true . . . one of the most interesting books that I have read on the twentieth-century west.”—Gilbert C. Fite

“The story of the self-reliance and determination needed to settle the Plains is one that needs to be told, and Nelsen has made an important contribution . . . Essential for collections on the West; an important acquisition for others.”—Library Journal