But her fantasy was a tool to teach true economics to the ignorant masses. heh.
I'll take your word on this.
My philosophy about fiction versus non-fiction goes back to John Hershey's
Hiroshima, a fictional tale that apparently evoked powerful emotions in readers.
Hiroshima did nothing for me, because I already knew the people described therein were made-up people, with made-up sufferings.
On the other hand,
Day One by Peter Wyden, also about Hiroshima, had an enormous effect on me, because he was describing real people with real sufferings.
And thus my opinion of the Willa Cather-Mari Sandoz thing.
The world is jampacked full of facts, and life is to short to waste on made-up stories.
I realize, of course, I am stating a decidedly minority opinion, but it's mine.