Alison Arngrim wrote the forward to The Maquinna Line. She is the author of Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Being Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated. Her role as Nellie Oleson on the popular televisions program Little House on the Prairie continues to bring her notice today. Alison is daughter to Norma Macmillan and Thor Arngrim.