Every family has its stories. For an estimated 800,000 Norwegians—a staggering number for a small, rugged nation—that story, between 1825 and 1925, involved a one-way ticket across the unforgiving Atlantic Ocean. They left behind the fjords and farms of their ancestors for the promised prairies of America, a journey of hope, hardship, and profound transformation. While the broad strokes are familiar—ships, settlers, sod houses—the true, textured, human reality of this mass movement is often lost to time.
This is the void that a seminal book like The Long Farewell: A Comprehensive History of Norwegian Emigration to America seeks to fill. It’s not merely a chronology of dates and ship manifests; it is a sweeping narrative that stitches together economic analysis, political context, and, most powerfully, the voices of the emigrants themselves through their poignant “America letters” and heartfelt diaries. To read such a book is to understand that this was more than a migration; it was a defining national trauma and triumph, a cultural watershed that shaped both Norway and the American Midwest forever.
Let’s delve into the key themes and chapters that make the story of Norwegian emigration so compelling, as illuminated by this masterful text.
Part I: The “Push” – Why Leave Paradise?
It’s a question that strikes anyone who has seen the breathtaking beauty of Norway’s coastline: why would anyone leave this? The Long Farewell begins by systematically dismantling the postcard-perfect image. For the vast majority in the early 19th century, Norway was a place of relentless struggle.
The Tyranny of the Land: Norway was a society dominated by a rigid class structure. The husmenn (cotters) and landless laborers lived a precarious existence, dependent on the goodwill of farmers for whom they worked in exchange for a small plot of land. Inheritance laws, particularly odelsrett, which aimed to keep family farms intact, often meant that only the eldest son could inherit, leaving younger siblings with bleak prospects. The book powerfully illustrates how the very social fabric pushed ambitious young people outward.
The Hunger Years: Famine is a recurring character in this story. The years following the Napoleonic Wars were particularly brutal, with the “Year Without a Summer” (1816) caused by a volcanic eruption in Indonesia leading to catastrophic crop failures across Europe, including Norway. Later, the potato blight that devastated Ireland in the 1840s also struck Norway, wiping out a crucial food source. The Long Farewell doesn’t just state these facts; it quotes heart-wrenching parish records and desperate letters that make the abstract concept of “famine” a tangible, gnawing fear.
The Religious Straitjacket: Another critical “push” factor was the lack of religious freedom. Norway’s state church, Lutheranism, was enforced with strict conformity. The book dedicates a fascinating chapter to the Haugeans, a fervent Pietist revival movement led by lay preacher Hans Nielsen Hauge. Hauge’s followers, emphasizing personal faith and hard work, often faced persecution from the state church authorities. For them, America wasn’t just a land of economic opportunity; it was a “promised land” where they could practice their faith without interference. This religious dissent was a powerful engine for the early waves of emigration.
Part II: The “Pull” – The Siren Song of America
If Norway was pushing them out, America was actively pulling them in. The Long Farewell expertly charts how information about this new world filtered back to remote Norwegian valleys, fundamentally altering the collective imagination.
The “America Letters” and the “American Fever”: This is perhaps the most captivating section of the book. The “America letter” (Amerikabrevet) was not just mail; it was a social phenomenon. These letters, sent home from successful emigrants, were read aloud in community gatherings, passed from farm to farm until the paper was worn thin. They didn’t just say, “I am well.” They contained specific, tantalizing details: the price of wheat in Chicago, the availability of cheap, fertile land in Wisconsin, the sheer abundance of food. One powerful excerpt from the book quotes a letter: “Here, even the common laborer eats wheat bread, and meat is not a Sunday luxury, but a daily meal.” For a people accustomed to barley flatbread and salted fish, this was a revolutionary statement. These letters created a “feedback loop” of emigration, making the unknown knowable and the impossible seem within reach.
The Role of the “Pathfinders”: No history of Norwegian emigration is complete without the Sloopers, the passengers of the restored sloop Restaurationen who sailed from Stavanger to New York in 1825. The Long Farewell treats this group not as a quaint origin story, but as a critical case study. Led by religious dissenters seeking freedom, their successful establishment of a settlement in Kendall, New York, provided a tangible blueprint. They were the proof of concept. The book follows how their letters and reports, circulated by eager pastors and printers, lit the fuse for the much larger waves to come.
Land, Liberty, and the Homestead Act: The book brilliantly contextualizes Norwegian emigration within the larger American narrative. The Homestead Act of 1862 was a direct invitation to the world, promising 160 acres of free land to anyone who would farm it for five years. For land-hungry Norwegians, this was an irresistible offer. The text includes stunning maps and charts showing the rapid settlement, first in the “Fox River Settlement” in Illinois, then exploding outward into a “Great Dakota Boom” that saw tens of thousands claim land in Minnesota and the Dakotas, making it the most Norwegian state outside of Norway itself.
Part III: The Journey – An Ocean of Suffering
The decision to leave was only the beginning. The Long Farewell dedicates a harrowing chapter to the transatlantic crossing itself, pulling no punches in its description of the “sail and steam” era.
From Sloop to Steamship: The early voyages, like that of the Sloopers, were perilous journeys of weeks or even months in cramped, unsanitary conditions. But even as ships improved, the journey was a nightmare. The book cites ship manifests and passenger diaries describing the overcrowded ‘tween decks, the stench, the rampant diseases like cholera and typhus (“ship fever”), and the heartbreaking frequency of infant mortality at sea. A particularly moving passage quotes a young mother’s diary: “We buried little Lars in the ocean today. The captain read a verse. The sea is so vast, and his grave is so unmarked.” This section serves as a sobering reminder of the immense cost and courage involved.
Part IV: Building “Little Norway” in the New World
Arrival in America was not the end of the struggle; it was the start of a new one. The book masterfully traces the evolution of Norwegian-American communities, showcasing a fascinating duality: a drive to assimilate and succeed, coupled with a fierce determination to preserve their cultural identity.
The Prairie Frontier: The image of the Norwegian pioneer breaking the sod of the Dakota prairie is an iconic one. The Long Farewell gives it depth, describing the construction of sod houses (sodhus), the back-breaking labor of clearing land, and the constant battle with isolation and brutal winters. Yet, through it all, they applied the same stoicism they had learned in Norway. The book argues that the Norwegian upbringing, with its emphasis on self-sufficiency (selvhjelp) and endurance, made them uniquely suited for the hardships of the frontier.
Institutions of Identity: This is where the book truly shines in its cultural analysis. Norwegians didn’t just scatter randomly; they clustered, creating dense ethnic enclaves where one could live a largely Norwegian life. The book explores the three pillars that held these communities together:
- The Lutheran Church: The Norwegian Synod and other church bodies were central to community life, but they were also the source of fierce theological debates imported from the old country. The book details the “predestination controversy” with a novelist’s eye for drama, showing how these religious disputes were, in fact, about forging a new identity in a new land.
- The Norwegian-Language Press: Publications like Decorah-Posten in Iowa were a lifeline. They carried news from Norway, local community announcements, and serialized novels, ensuring the language survived for generations.
- Educational Institutions: The founding of colleges like St. Olaf and Luther College was a testament to the community’s commitment to both faith and learning, creating an educated elite that would lead the community into the American mainstream.
Enduring Legacy: The final chapters trace the Norwegian influence on American culture, from the political legacy of figures like Senator Knute Nelson to the culinary traditions of lutefisk and lefse at church suppers. It touches on the famous sons and daughters, like aviator and explorer Bernt Balchen, or novelist Ole Edvart Rølvaag, whose epic Giants in the Earth remains the definitive literary account of the pioneer experience, giving voice to its psychological toll.
Conclusion: A Story for Today
The Long Farewell does not end as a dusty history lesson. It powerfully connects this century-long exodus to the present day. It asks us to consider the modern parallels of migration, the courage it takes to leave everything behind, and the complex process of weaving a new identity in a foreign land.
To read this book is to gain a profound appreciation for the resilience of the human spirit. It is to understand that the story of Norwegian America is not just one of statistical success—of farmers, businessmen, and politicians who “made it.” It is a story of profound loss, of generations severed from their ancestral home, of a “long farewell” whose echoes can still be felt in the DNA of the American Midwest and in the quiet longing that permeates the Amerikabrevet stored in a drawer in a Norwegian farmhouse. It is, ultimately, a foundational story of both Norway and America, and this book is its essential, compelling telling.