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Early in the 20th century, drawing upon the hundreds of letters written to his father by students who had emigrated to north-eastern Iowa from Mecklenburg, in north-eastern Germany, Johannes Gillhoff created the composite character of Juernjakob Swehn: the archetype of the upright, honest mensch who personified the German immigrant, on his way to a better life through ambition and hard work. Gillhoff's farmer-hero, planting and harvesting his Iowa acres, joking with his neighbours during the snowy winters, building a church with his own hands, proved so popular with the German public that a million copies of this book are in print. Now for the first time this book is available in English.

Reviews

"Whoever wants to farm should stay in Iowa. That's what I think. In Iowa there's plenty of everything: plenty water, plenty hay, plenty corn, plenty potatoes, and plenty opportunity."--Juernjakob Swehn