A New Life: Danish emigration to North America as described by the emigrants...

by Niels Peter Stilling, Anne Lisbeth Olsen

In letters to their homeland, Danes who emigrated to North America from 1842 to 1946 here give vivid, personal impressions of how they began life anew, far from familiar surroundings of home. Passages selected by the authors from among more than a thousand emigrant letters provide a unique glimpse of life on the American prairie as well as on Chicago's notorious South Side. The narratives are presented in a series of themes, ranging from crossing the Atlantic to an inside look at the Unites States. Although few regretted the decision to emigrate, nearly all suffered pangs of homesickness, and many attempted to imbue their children with a sense of "Danishness". these Danes of the past come alive as they describe both successes and failures in their own words. It is the hope of the Danes Worldwide Archives that "A New Life" will help strengthen the historical identity of Danish-Americans.

215 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Increased my knowledge and awareness of the motivations of Danish emigrants and the new lives they built in the United States.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very informative book covering the period of my own ancestors’ immigration to America. I have a better understanding of the trials they may have encountered.