Consensus interpretations, as found in John Faragher's book, ''Women and Men on the Overland Trail'' (1979), held that men and women's power within marriage was uneven. This meant that women did not experience the trail as liberating, but instead only found harder work than they had handled back east. However, feminist scholarship, by historians such as Lillian Schlissel,<ref>Lillian Schlissel, "Women's diaries on the western frontier." ''American Studies'' (1977): 87-100 [https://journals.ku.edu/index.php/amerstud/article/viewFile/2301/2260 online].</ref> Sandra Myres,<ref>Sandra L. Myres, ed., '' Ho for California!: Women's Overland Diaries from the Huntington Library'' (Huntington Library Press, 1980)</ref> and Glenda Riley,<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 969452 |title = The Specter of a Savage: Rumors and Alarmism on the Overland Trail |journal = The Western Historical Quarterly |volume = 15 |issue = 4 |pages = 427–444 |last1 = Riley |first1 = Glenda |year = 1984 |doi = 10.2307/969452 }}</ref> suggests men and women did not view the West and western migration in the same way. Whereas men might deem the dangers of the trail acceptable if there was a strong economic reward at the end, women viewed those dangers as threatening to the stability and survival of the family. Once they arrived at their new western home, women's public role in building western communities and participating in the western economy gave them a greater authority than they had known back East. There was a "female frontier" that was distinct and different from that experienced by men.<ref>Kenneth L. Holmes, ''Covered Wagon Women,'' Volume 1, Introduction by Anne M. Butler, ebook version, University of Nebraska Press, (1983) pp 1-10.</ref>