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Immigration 

  Nonfiction

Norway to AmericaNorway to America: A History of the Migration      by Ingrid Semmingsen
 
Semmingsen, former professor of American history at the University of Oslo and international expert on the topic of Scandinavian immigration, has written the definitive study of emigration from the Norwegian perspective. Translated by Einar Haugen and first published in 1978 by the University of Minnesota Press, the book has been recently reissued. The book tells the story of the migration, from 1815 to 1915, as it affected both Norway and the United States.

IM - 8   Paperback   $16.95



The Red River TrailsThe Red River Trails: Oxcart Routes between St. Paul and the Selkirk Settlement, 1820-1870 by Rhoda R. Gilman, Carolyn Gilman, and Deborah M. Stultz 

If you heard stories about your grandfather taking the oxcart to St. Cloud for supplies and being gone for two weeks, this book, recently re-issued by the Minnesota Historical Society Press, is for you. It traces the paths running through Minnesota, North Dakota and Canada that were used as international trade routes for furs and merchandise between St. Paul in the south and the settlement that was to become Winnipeg in the north. Supplemented with maps, sketches, a full index and reference notes, the book is divided into chapters featuring six main trails: Manitoba, North Dakota, Minnesota Valley, Woods, Middle and Metropolitan.

"At the risk of sounding like a full-blown geek, this is about to become my favorite book. Maps for the Middle Trail even show my little hometown, right there, two weeks from St. Cloud...a trip that takes about an hour and a half today!"   Suzann Nelson

G - 01   Paperback   $14.95 


Between Rocks and Hard Places

Between Rocks and Hard Places by Ann Urness Gesme

Now in its fourth printing, it has a beautiful new cover that reflects the beauty of Norway and does justice to Gesme's thorough research.  Quite a few books cover the lives of Scandinavian immigrants in the United States.  Between Rocks and Hard Places is one of the few books written for the non-Norwegian reader that looks at daily life in Norway before mass emigration.  Gesme fully explains the "push factors:" the conditions, customs and traditions in the early 1800s that drove so many people from their homeland into the unknown.  It is perhaps the most comprehensive book on this topic designed for the English reader.

G - 05     Paperback     Price:  $13.95

 

Norwegians in MinnesotaNorwegians in Minnesota  by Jon Gjerde & Carlton C. Qualey
Foreword by Bill Holm

The farming communities and Lutheran churches formed by Norwegian immigrants to Minnesota have been widely documented. Less frequently written about is their urban legacy; trades, industry, art and culture. This book, a part of the Minnesota Historical Society's "People of Minnesota Series",** goes a long way in filling that gap. 
IM - 1    Paperback    $13.95



Swedes in MinnesotaSwedes in Minnesota   by Anne Gillespie Lewis
Foreword by Bill Holm

Swedes in Minnesota is the newest addition to The People of Minnesota series**. Anne Gillespie Lewis recounts the story of the Swedish migration to Minnesota through census reports and settlement patterns, but also through cultural institutions that the Swedish settlers founded: churches, schools, lodges, Swedish-language newspapers, businesses, neighborhoods and associations. But, this book also tells the story of people through their anecdotes and letters, and through interviews with the immigrants themselves and their descendants.

IM - 3   Paperback   $13.95



Norwegians in WisconsinNorwegians in Wisconsin     by Richard J. Fapso

This perennially popular book, now revised and expanded with additional historical photos and documents (including selected letters of Ole Munch Ræder), offers a concise introduction to Wisconsin's Norwegian immigrants. The narrative examines the mass migration of Norwegians from 1837, when Ole Nattestad became the first Norwegian settler in Wisconsin, to the late nineteenth century, when Norwegian immigration largely came to a close. This chronicle of Wisconsin's early Norwegian immigrants is part of the Wisconsin Historical Society's Ethnic Series.

 IM - 6    Paperback     $9.95


Swedes in WisconsinSwedes in Wisconsin     by Frederick Hale


This informative book looks at the reasons Swedes left for the New World, their arduous journeys to North American soil, and their establishment of communities in Wisconsin. New to this edition are the selected letters of Swedish novelist and feminist Frederika Bremer, who visited Wisconsin in 1850. This volume about Wisconsin's early Swedish immigrants is part of the Wisconsin Historical Society's Ethnic Series.

IM - 7    Paperback      $9.95


The History of Urness Township
The History of Urness Township
 
For information on this great new book about Central Minnesota, click on The History of Urness Township




Bold SpiritBold Spirit: Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk across Victorian America  
by Linda Lawrence  Hunt    One copy available now; new shipment should be available Dec. 14

The Vikings, Roald Amundson, Fridtjof Nansen, Thor Heyerdal ...Norwegians whose names evoke a spirit of exploration and adventure.  Add a new name, Helga Estby.

Helga went through many of the hardships experienced by Scandinavian immigrants — adventurers in their own right — but Helga went a few steps more, 3500 miles more . . . on foot.

Born in Oslo, Helga came to America with her mother and step-father at the age of eleven settling in New York.  At a young age Helga gave birth to Clara, married and moved to Minnesota. She eventually bore nine children, had a difficult life on the prairie, and moved with her family to the state of Washington in time for the 1893 depression.

Lured by an offer from a mysterious sponsor, Helga was promised $10,000 — money which could prevent foreclosure and save the family homestead —  if she could  walk to New York City.  Helga and her daughter Clara left Spokane in April 1896.  During the  journey they faced extreme temperatures,  hunger, exposure and even shot a man in self-defense, but they also met with mayors, governors and other important people, including President-elect McKinley. They arrived in New York City on Christmas Eve, 1896.  What followed was an American tragedy.  You'll have to read the book to get the rest of the story.

Bold Spirit was written by Linda Lawrence Hunt, Associate Professor of English at Whitworth College in Spokane, who researched Helga's life and journey for her Ph.D. dissertation.


I - 44            Paperback      $16.95

 

Historical Novels

Grass of the EarthGrass of the Earth  by Aagot Raaen

First written in the early 50s, this book has been republished by popular demand.  One isn't sure where nonfiction leaves off and fiction begins, but my brother-in-law in the Northwood, North Dakota area recognizes the names and places described.  The book recounts the settling of the Red River Valley from the late 1880s.

I - 03     Paperback     $15.95
 


Sigrid Nilsdatter's FamilySigrid Nilsdatter's Family  by Maxine Shulstad  This wonderful new book is more than a family history.  It traces 200 years of Maxine's ancestor's lives, loves, trials and victories.  Contains family photos and other treasures, including Sigrid's trunk.

I - 38    Paperback     $18.95


 
 

the EmigranatsThe Emigrants  by Johan Bojer

This is the Norwegian version of emigration to homesteads in North Dakota. Written in 1925 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Norwegian emigration, the book was, and perhaps still is, required reading in "Grad School."

I - 08     Paperback     $12.95
 
 

The EmigrantsThe Emigrants  by Vilhelm Moberg

Considered one of Sweden's greatest 20th-century writers, Vilhelm Moberg chronicled the joys and tragedies of Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson's  lives as early Swedish pioneers in America.  First published between 1949 and 1959 in Swedish, the four books were considered a single work by Moberg, who intended that they be read as documentary novels. Book 1 introduces Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson, their three young children, and eleven others who make up a resolute party of Swedes fleeing the poverty, religious persecution, and social oppression of Småland in 1850.

I - 09-1     Paperback     $17.95 each

The SettlersThe Settlers by Vilhelm Moberg

Book 2 opens in the summer of 1850 as the emigrants disembark in New York City. Their journey to a new home in Minnesota Territory takes them by riverboat, steam wagon, Great Lakes steamship, and oxcart to Chisago County. 

I - 09-2     Paperback     $17.95 each
 
 

Unto a Good Land
Unto a Good Land  by Vilhelm Moberg

Book 3 focuses on Karl Oskar and Kristina as they adapt to their new homeland and struggle to survive on their new farm. 

I - 09-3     Paperback     $17.95 each
 

The Last Letter Home

The Last Letter Home  by Vilhelm Moberg

Book 4 portrays the Nilsson family during the turmoil of the Civil War and Dakota Conflict and their prospering in the midst of Minnesota's growing Swedish community of the 1860s-90s.

I - 09-4     Paperback     $17.95 each
 
 
 

Ole Edvart Rølvaag

Ole E. Rølvaag immigrated to the U. S. in 1896 from Dønne, an island in the North Atlantic, where his ancestors had been fishermen and seafaring people for generations. Rølvaag, too, was a fisherman for several years as part of the family operation.

However, at the age of 20 — after little formal education — he emigrated to South Dakota to work on his uncle's farm and attend Augustana College. He next attended St. Olaf College where he received his BA degree, and returned to Norway studying for a year at the University of Olso.

Returning to America in 1906, Rølvaag joined the faculty of St. Olaf's College. Two years later became a U.S. citizen. During his teaching years he began chronicling the lives of Norwegian immigrants.

His works have been described as realistic portrayals of Norwegian settlers on the Dakota prairies, but also called "grimly pessimistic." Unlike many writers of immigrant novels, Rølvaag's focus was not only on the hardships of farming and adjusting to a new country and a new language, but also on the clash of cultures and the loss one's values.

Of his many books — all written in his native language — most of his works have been translated into English and several in other languages.  Rølvaag is most famous for his epic trilogy that was considered by the Nation magazine as "the fullest, finest and most powerful novel that has been written about pioneer life in America."   Giants in the Earth is the most famous of all of Rølvaag's novels.


Giants in the EarthGiants in the Earth       by Ole Rølvaag

Subtitled "The Saga of the Prairie," Rølvaag's award-winning Giants in the Earth, was written in 1927. This classic about the lives of Per and Berit Hansa describes the hardships common to settlers from hunger to severe weather issues to grasshopper plagues and finally to Berit's insanity.


PF - 01     $14.95



Peder VictoriousPeder Victorious        by  Ole Rølvaag

Written in 1929, Peder Victorious, subtitled "A Tale of the Pioneers Twenty Years Later," is the second book in this trilogy and brings the immigrants into the twentieth century.  For Rølvaag's second generation of  "vikings of the prairie," the battle against the land has been won, but they are faced with a second struggle — to adapt and become Americans.


PF - 02      $19.95



Their Fathers' GodTheir Fathers' God      by Ole Rølvaag

Their Fathers' God, the final book in the trilogy, was written in 1931, and the emphasis is on intense and dramatic projections of the Minnesota and Dakota prairies and the whole westward movement in America.

Against a backdrop of hard times and mixed feelings brought on by the Populist and anti-monopolist movements occurring in America, Rølvaag's characters must now deal with social and business schemers and ruthless competition in the midst of scarcity. The immediate issue facing the family now is typical of yet another struggle facing many families at that time as they tried to deal with the drought and the Great Depression — religious faith, skepticism about it, or a lack of it.

PF - 03     $19.95


The Boat of LongingThe Boat of Longing     by  Ole Rølvaag    (Not part of the Trilogy)

This novel, written in 1921, was intended to be the first book in Rølvaag's trilogy. It follows some of the same themes Rølvaag used in his other books (a young fisherman leaving Norway to seek his fortune in America and the human cost of moving to a new land) along with themes of hardships used by many authors of immigration stories: the long and unpleasant voyage, aching homesickness, fierce elements of nature, and the difficulties of trying to succeed in a new country — especially when one doesn't understand the language or culture.

 However, unlike Rølvaag's other works, this story takes place in an urban setting (Minneapolis, and more specifically the area Minnesotans refer to as "Snooze Boulevard") where temptations abound, and the struggles differ from those on the prairie.  When this book became available in English in 1933, it received wide praise from literary critics in America. The Christian Science Monitor referred to it as "a poem rather than a novel," and felt the book contained "sustained beauty of expression." Of all his novels, The Boat of Longing was Rølvaag's favorite. 

PF - 04  $13.95

Cutbank Girl

Cutbank Girl   by Erling Rolfsrud 

Immigrant homesteaders speak only Norwegian causing interesting situations.  Writings about children's games, escapades, school and work.

R 1- 03   Paperback    $8.95
 
 


Pioneer Petticoat

Petticoat Pioneer  by Erling Rolfsrud 

A novel inspired by Rolfrud's immigrant mother.  Fiction based upon experiences of single women and widows who homesteaded, often beginning in sod huts.

R 1- 04   $10.95


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