{"product_id":"confessions-of-a-prairie-bitch-how-i-survived-nellie-oleson-and-learned-to-love-being-hated-isbn-9780061962158","title":"Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eConfessions of a Prairie Bitch\u003c\/i\u003e is Alison Arngrim’s comic celebrity memoir of growing up as one of television’s most memorable characters—the devious Nellie Oleson on the hit television show \u003ci\u003eLittle House on the Prairie\u003c\/i\u003e. With revealing behind-the-scenes stories from the set, as well as tales from her bohemian upbringing in West Hollywood and her headline-making advocacy work on behalf of HIV awareness and abused children, \u003ci\u003eConfessions of a Prairie Bitch\u003c\/i\u003e is a must for fans of everything \u003ci\u003eLittle House\u003c\/i\u003e: the classic 1970s television series and its many stars like Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert; Gilbert’s bestselling memoir \u003ci\u003ePrairie Tale\u003c\/i\u003e… and, of course, the beloved series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder that started it all.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut what was life really like for the girl everyone loved to hate?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eHollywood Memoir:\u003c\/b\u003e Go behind the scenes of \u003ci\u003eLittle House on the Prairie\u003c\/i\u003e with scandalous, funny stories about Michael Landon, Melissa Gilbert, and the rest of the cast.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eDysfunctional Family:\u003c\/b\u003e Read about her bohemian upbringing in 1960s Hollywood with her gay, theatrical father, her voice-actress mother (the voice of Gumby!), and the dark family secrets she survived.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eChild Actor Survival:\u003c\/b\u003e Follow her journey from a shy, abused child to an outspoken advocate who learned to embrace her inner ‘prairie bitch’ and use her fame for good.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eCelebrity Tell-All:\u003c\/b\u003e Discover her bizarre friendships with icons like Liberace and Christine Jorgensen, the world’s first publicly acknowledged transsexual.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e | \u003cp\u003eFor seven years, Alison Arngrim played a wretched, scheming, selfish, lying, manipulative brat on one of TV history's most beloved series. Though millions of \u003cem\u003eLittle House on the Prairie\u003c\/em\u003e viewers hated Nellie Oleson and her evil antics, Arngrim grew to love her character—and the freedom and confidence Nellie inspired in her.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eConfessions of a Prairie Bitch\u003c\/em\u003e, Arngrim describes growing up in Hollywood with her eccentric parents: Thor Arngrim, a talent manager to Liberace and others, whose appetite for publicity was insatiable, and legendary voice actress Norma MacMillan, who played both Gumby and Casper the Friendly Ghost. She recalls her most cherished and often wickedly funny moments behind the scenes of \u003cem\u003eLittle House\u003c\/em\u003e: Michael Landon's \"unsaintly\" habit of not wearing underwear; how she and Melissa Gilbert (who played her TV nemesis, Laura Ingalls) became best friends and accidentally got drunk on rum cakes at 7-Eleven; and the only time she and Katherine MacGregor (who played Nellie's mom) appeared in public in costume, provoking a posse of elementary schoolgirls to attack them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eArngrim relays all this and more with biting wit, but she also bravely recounts her life's challenges: her struggle to survive a history of traumatic abuse, depression, and paralyzing shyness; the \"secret\" her father kept from her for twenty years; and the devastating loss of her \"\u003cem\u003eLittle House\u003c\/em\u003e husband\" and best friend, Steve Tracy, to AIDS, which inspired her second career in social and political activism. Arngrim describes how Nellie Oleson taught her to be bold, daring, and determined, and how she is eternally grateful to have had the biggest little bitch on the prairie to show her the way.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“Courage, moxie, chutzpah , cajones. Alison Arngrim has them all in spades. In “Confessions of a Prairie Bitch,” she bares her soul and manages to share her story with grace, dignity, and her inimitable humor. Simply put, I love this book and I love her. ” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMelissa Gilbert\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Alison Arngrim is a fine actress and a true comedienne. She has always been the kind of ‘Bitch’ who tells it like it is. So, readers beware, you are in for an eye-full of reality told with a remarkable sense of humor.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCarol Channing\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Whoa, Nellie! “Confessions of a Prairie Bitch” is a book that you will keep stored under a haystack in the barn, to dip into whenever you need a shot of something that will keep you down on the farm.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBruce Vilanch\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Alison Arngrim is a talented actress and an author who has patched together a meaningful life and created a book whose pages…fly.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePhyllis Diller\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“As a city bitch myself, I loved this book! It’s nice to see how the other half lives. Alison Arngrim’s memoir is a hilarious, moving, and dishy Hollywood tale.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMargaret Cho\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Hilarious and heartbreaking.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAtlanta Journal-Constitution\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Arngrim, decades past her ‘Little House On The Prairie’ years, dishes lots of great on-set stories, talks about what being a kid actor in the 1970s was actually like and discusses her own painful family history with frankness and humor....Delightful.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNPR.org\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“’Confessions of a Prairie Bitch’ says it all: Neither Arngrim nor Nellie could ever be called boring.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Arngrim displays a healthy sense of humor.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChicago Sun-Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Alison Arngrim, familiar to a generation of TV viewers as the petulant Nellie Oleson of ‘Little House On The Prairie,’ is dishing the dirt on Walnut Grove.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAOL PopEater\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eArngrim looks back on playing the pint-sized sociopath in her memoir, “Confessions of a Prairie Bitch,” in which she merrily recalls show creator and star Michael Landon, that infamous blond wig, and how Nellie inspired her lifelong obsession with villainy.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Spunky Alison Arngrim, who played Nellie [Oleson], gets my kudos...Alison has a knack for yanking people’s chains in a good way. And her new bestselling memoir, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, is such an absorbing read, I just had to give the woman a call for some bitch talk.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMichael Musto, Village Voice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dey Street Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44887962386661,"sku":"NP9780061962158","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780061962158.jpg?v=1730227828","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/confessions-of-a-prairie-bitch-how-i-survived-nellie-oleson-and-learned-to-love-being-hated-isbn-9780061962158","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}