The Strange American Way [Hardcover]

Professor Peter A. Munch Ph.D. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1970

A young bride, Caja Munch accompanied her husband, Johan Storm Munch, from Norway to Wisconsin where he had received his first call to become pastor of several newly organized Norwegian Lutheran congregations. Her letters to her parents, written during a four-year period, 1855–59, and Pastor Munch’s An American Adventure, an excerpt from his “Vita Mea,” written fifty years after the visit to America, provide, with an uncanny timelessness and a distinct and charming literary style, perspectives on the immigrant in rural America which will be of con­siderable interest to general readers as well as historians and sociologists.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Important addition to the recent literature in what may be broadly called ethnic studies… Recommended for all college and university libraries interested in ethnic studies.”—Choice

Language Notes

Text: English, Norwegian (translation)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press; 1st edition (October 1, 1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809304406
• ISBN-13: 978-0809304400
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,026,862 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling 1855 pastor's wife's letters to Norway home., April 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Strange American Way (Hardcover)

In 1855, the recently-ordained young Norwegian immigrant pastor Johan Storm Munch and his wife Caja came to Wiota in southern Wisconsin to organize a rural church to serve the enclave of families who had arrived from Norway over the previous few years.

The book, by Peter Munch, grandson of the subject Munch's, consists of 1) a forward relating the very interesting story of how the material was located, 2) letters written between 1855 and 1859 by Caja Munch to her family in Norway; 3) a memoir by the pastor covering the same years as the letters; and 4) an excellent essay by Peter Munch, "Social Class and Acculturation," about the Norwegian immigrant experience, especially that of the group of Lutheran pastors who had arrived to serve the several communities in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota during the time of the letters.

The book provides a wonderful portrait of both the pastors' families and those of their charges, the farmers struggling to make a living on the land in a new and undeveloped area. There is no shortage of animosity on the side of the educated Munch's toward the less sophisticated farmers and, as we learn in Caja's letters especially, vice versa.

An excellent book on several counts.