The Settlers - (Emigrant Novels) by Vilhelm Moberg (Paperback)

About the Book

The third book in Moberg's classic Emigrant Novels series.

Book Synopsis

Considered one of Sweden's greatest 20th-century writers, Vilhelm Moberg created the characters Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson to portray the joys and tragedies of daily life for early Swedish immigrants in America. His consistently faithful depiction of these humble people's lives is a major strength of the Emigrant Novels.

Moberg's extensive research in the papers of Swedish emigrants in archival collections enabled him to incorporate many details of pioneer life. First published between 1949 and 1959 in Swedish, these four books were considered a single work by Moberg, who intended that they be read as documentary novels. These reprint editions contain introductions written by Roger McKnight of Gustavus Adolphus College, and they restore Moberg's bibliography not included in earlier English editions.

The third book in the series, The Settlers focuses on Karl Oskar and Kristina as they adapt to their new homeland and struggle to survive on their new farm in the Minnesota Territory.

The other books in the series--The Emigrants (I), Unto a Good Land (II), and The Last Letter Home (IV)--are also available from the Minnesota Historical Society Press.

Review Quotes

"Moberg produces a canvas as crowded as a Breughel painting."

New York Times Book Review

"Well written and skillfully done."
New York Herald Tribune Book Review

"The book is as complete and full as the life it portrays. . . . Moberg reiterates that the noblest mystery of the world is man."

Chicago Tribune

"A frequently moving account of the struggle of a young Swedish immigrant couple to make a place for themselves and their children."

New Yorker

"Poignantly moves the reader to appreciate the saga of the immigrants."

Library Journal

"It's important to have Moberg's Emigrant Novels available for another generation of readers."

Bruce Karstadt, American Swedish Institute