| Chech Voices Contributor(s): Machann, Clinton (Editor), Mendl, James W., Jr. (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0890968462 ISBN-13: 9780890968468 Publisher: Texas A&M University Press OUR PRICE: $18.00 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: January 2016 Annotation: Although the personal stories told here began in Europe, all ten recount a history of Texas as seen by one of the state's largest immigrant ethnic groups. The narratives, originally printed in the midwestern Czechlanguage journal Amerikan narodni kalendar, tell the story of the immigrants as they arrived in the mid-nineteenth century and provide a picture of this culture that goes beyond the kolache pastries and polka dancing popularly associated with Czech Americans. Among the writers are important leaders, adventurers, journalists, and typical farmers. Their impressions of the immigrants' hard daily lives, religious conflicts, the American Civil War, and their own identity bring to life an era that other sources rarely reveal. Clinton Machann and James W. Mendl, Jr., who have selected and translated these stories, provide an interpretive introduction, informative notes, and a bibliography that help to place the life stories in their historical and cultural context. Before Czech Voices' hardcover release in 1991, these narratives had never before been generally available. The importance of and pleasure in reading primary sources like these was apparent in the book's initial reception. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - State & Local - Southwest (az, Nm, Ok, Tx) |
| Dewey: 976.4 |
| LCCN: 90043294 |
| Series: Centennial Series of the Association of Former Students Texas A & M University (Paperback) |
| Physical Information: 0.54" H x 5.57" W x 8.54" (0.60 lbs) 182 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Cultural Region - Deep South - Cultural Region - Gulf Coast - Cultural Region - South - Cultural Region - Southwest U.S. - Cultural Region - Western U.S. - Geographic Orientation - Texas |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Texas A&M University Press has released a paperback edition of Czech Voices: Stories from Texas in the Amerik n n rodn kalend . Originally published in 1991, Czech Voices comprises ten short memoir-essays written by some of the earliest Czech immigrants to Texas. Translated and edited by Clinton Machann and James W. Mendl, Jr., Czech Voices offers a clear window to the lives of Czech immigrants on a difficult frontier. Each of the ten autobiographical sketches had been published in the Amerik n n rodn kalend (a Czech-language magazine in Chicago. (That publication's founding by a freethinking political group explains the fact that many of the essays it published expressed some negative attitudes toward organized religion.) Several motifs and themes that run through the collection loom especially large: hardships of the immigrants, religious conflicts, the American Civil War, ethnic identity, farming practices, and attitudes toward the land. Among the writers are important leaders, adventurers, journalists, and typical farmers, chosen for their identity or powers of expression or for the importance of the events they record. Their impressions, attitudes, and emotions bring to life an era that other sources rarely can. Clinton Machann and James W. Mendl, Jr., who selected and translated these stories, provide an interpretive introduction, informative notes, and a bibliography that help to place the life stories in their historical and cultural context. These narratives had never before been generally available; historians interested in American immigration and ethnicity, as well as the descendants of immigrants, will appreciate both their valuable contribution and the pleasure of reading them. |