In the book Norwegian Migration to America: The American Transition, Theodore C. Blegen examines Norwegian-American history over the years from 1825 to 1925 . the author tells the story of these immigrants using diary entries, official documents and other historical documents. The author wanted to accurately portray the struggle that many Norwegian-American immigrants faced in adapting to life in the United States of America and show how well they did so. This book interested me as I have recently developed a passion for Scandinavia. Not knowing much about them or how they integrated into American culture, this book seemed to provide a lot of information on the topic. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In this book the author illustrates in great depth the vast struggles that Norwegian-Americans faced during migration. It also shows how good they were at adapting and how well they did it. In explaining how they adapted to the linguistic change he writes, "Such a tendency, he realised, was common among emigrants of all nationalities, but the Norwegians, he thought, 'seem to have a special talent in this'" (Blegen 82). This seems to go hand in hand with the common theme of the book, which begins with the opponent and ends with the Norwegians' victory. Both of Blegen's parents immigrated from Norway. Blegen, fascinated by his ancestors, continued to study and write about their history. In his book he mentions the immense pride they had in themselves and their country. April Schultz writes of President Calvin Coolidge that speaking to eighty thousand Norwegian-Americans he praised their contributions to American society and even acknowledged their claim that a Norwegian explorer had actually discovered America long before Christopher Columbus. A local newspaperman reported the crowd's response: "The great roar that rose from the Nordic throats to Thor and Odin above the lowering gray clouds said that the pride of the race had been touched" (Schultz 1265). Taking this into account, the author's desire to show the triumphs of his people becomes clear. Even though the author is clearly prejudiced and born to two Norwegian immigrants, he still uses a plethora of sources and provides a lot of information to build a valid argument. At the bottom of nearly every page, the author lists multiple references to letters, speeches, books, and even recordings he used. After reading them, I noticed that the sources came from many different places and people, and he didn't seem to rely much on any of them. The author does not include much information about the suffragettes and how involved they were, but it seems that they took great pride in the fact that their homeland was the first sovereign nation in the world to give their women equal rights to vote. Scandinavian suffragettes used this information to encourage Americans to follow suit, Anna Peterson explains: A banner boasting of Norway's suffrage accomplishments served as a clear display of ethnic pride to the Norwegian Americans who saw it. The banner also served as suffrage rhetoric, forcing Americans to realize that they lagged behind other countries in the progression of women's rights. (Peterson 14). He mentions Scandinavian “ethnic pride,” which they displayed freely and proudly without having to suffer any kind of racial discrimination. This was true until World War I, when European immigrants were reluctant to label themselves as anything other than "American." In/2078262.