Unto a Good Land (The Emigrants, Book II)

This book is a continuation of The Emigrants. After many weeks of traveling in the hold of a sailing cargo ship, several Swedish peasant families finally arrive in New York. They have what little money they gained from selling their small farms, and what possessions they could put in a wooden chest. None can speak English. All they know of America is from letters they received from a few Swedes who settled here. They have heard of fertile farmland in a place called Minnesota, and they have the name of an honest English-speaking Swede who will arrange their travel from New York. This is the story of very courageous people, which I believe all European immigrants were in the 1850s. This is a remarkable book.

This book, "Unto A Good Land", is a continuation of the four-part epic series written by Vilhelm Moberg which describes the lives of the early Swedish emigrants to the USA. My wife and I read this book out loud to each other during the course of the week and we are totally engaged in the ongoing dialogues between the various characters (especially Karl Oskar, Kristina and Ulrika of Vastergohl). The narrative descriptions of the scenery and the various interactions of the characters while they are on board the paddlewheeler "Red Wing" as they push up the Mississippi River toward Stillwater, Minnesota, will keep you anxious to know what's coming next. Moberg has a gift for being able to understand and describe the human thought and behavior of a people confronting a completely new and different environment for the first time. As the reader, you will be able to easily relate to the oh-so-human fears and frailties of the Swedish immigrants as they try to deal with the foreign and alien American frontier. Remember, they have been uprooted from their centuries-old traditional lifestyles back in the old country and are now thousands of miles away from their home country. They can't speak one intelligible word of English. Bless their hearts, these folks are bonefide heroes and heroines. I highly recommend this book to all those who want to discover and learn about some of the first settlers from Europe as they struggled to survive during their fearsome trip over the Atlantic Ocean, across lakes and rivers, through virgin territory, and ultimately reach their final destination in the heavily-forested Territory of Minnesota.

Having family that left Sweden in the 1870s I've found that these books show a bit of what it took to leave home for the new world. One gr-grandfather left farming in Sweden and became a copper miner in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. In fact, the fathers of both my grandmas became miners - one in copper and the other in iron and both in Michigan. I would have thought the farmer ancestor would have looked for good farmland like Karl Oscar did in the book. I have no idea what prompted him to not do that. I recommend this book to all who have ancestors who were brave enough, adventurous enough to leave home, wherever that was, to journey to North America. We should be very grateful to our forebears who made this choice that allowed us to have the chance to thrive in this country.

I liked the descriptions he gave of all their struggles in America. I read it for our Book Club.

I love this book. There is so much to be learned about the experience of immigrating to Minnesota from Sweden in the mid 1800s. My own grandparents did the same, and didn't talk about their past, so this really helps. I love how the author takes us along on the lengthy thought processes of the characters, and that the story is based on thoroughly researched actual people and places. We share in their physical, mental and spiritual struggles and successes, fears and hopes. I actually like the whole series of 4 "emigrant novels" by Moberg, but had to choose only one for our book group. We are fortunate enough to live near the settings, and will do a road trip/field trip along with our discussion.

The continuing story of the families new life in America makes the book hard to put down as there is something new with each page

I have read these books in the past. They are a fictional account of settlement by Swedish immigrants in Minnesota. The author spent 6 years of research in MN before writing the books. they are so well-known by Swedes that when the King and Queen of Sweden come to the Twin Cities they visit the sites described in the book. A wonderful musical KRISTINA AV DUVEMALA was written and produced by the 2 men singers from the rock group ABBA; it played for years in Sweden. the music is wonderful for people of all ages. I highly recommend these books.

After reading the first novel by Vilhelm Moberg, I was anxious to delve into the second one. These books have certainly given me some insight into what my Swedish relatives had to go through to move to America. It was not an easy life by any means and scary at times. They were taken advantage of by their own countrymen when there was a language barrier. My own great grandmother said that life for her in America was so hard she'd have returned to Sweden if the voyage on the ship wouldn't have been so dreadful.

Such an amazing trilogy. Will gave to see the film series coming out this or next year (in Swedish though) featuring Loki from The Vikings

Well writtenand enthral long. You must red all four books. A great insight into early American life and it enables you to understand how American ideals evolved

A fascinating detailed description of settling in a new land. Nothing dramatic but very absorbing. Read all three volumes. A gem.

First read this in French, then in the original Swedish, finally decided I'd like it in English, which also means I can share it with friends. Arrived in seconds even though I was on the other side of the world at the time.

After reading the 1st book in the series, you do have to keep reading the next 3 books. Quite interesting; a fiction story, but based on historical facts, about a Swedish immigrant family. Being my ancestry is Swedish, these books gave me a much greater understanding and appreciation for what my Swedish ancestors had to endure, and overcome, in immigrating to a very new and different land, in every way, for them.