1 reviews
Sales Rank: 913774

Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.2

ISBN: 0814329748
Dewey Decimal Number: 977.400494541
EAN: 9780814329740
ASIN: 0814329748

Publication Date: July 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Also Available In:

•	Hardcover - History of the Finns in Michigan (Great Lakes Books)

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
A history of the Finnish people in Michigan published in English for the first time. Michigan's Upper Peninsula was a major destination for Finns during the peak years of migration in the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century. Several Upper Peninsula communities had large Finnish populations and Finnish churches, lodges, co-operative stores, and temperance societies. Ishpeming and Hancock, especially, were important nationally as Finnish cultural centers, with Finnish newspapers, publishing houses, and fraternal and insurance societies, as well as Suomi College and the seminary and administrative offices of the Suomi Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Originally published in Finnish in 1967 by Armas K. E. Holmio, History of the Finns in Michigan, translated into English by Ellen M. Ryynanen, brings the story of the contribution of Finnish immigrants into the mainstream of Michigan history. Holmio combines firsthand experience and personal contact with the first generation of Finnish immigrants with research in Finnish-language sources to create an important and compelling story of an immigrant group and its role in the development of Michigan. History of the Finns in Michigan is a fascinating story for historians interested in Finnish history, Michigan history, immigration studies, and nineteenth-and early-twentieth-century Great Lakes history.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars

Surprisingly interesting! A great Upper Peninsula reference! April 21, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I bought this book as a reference. It sounded dreary, but I figured it would answer occasional questions.

Instead, it was quite fascinating in a variety of ways. It dealt with the background of Michigan's Finnish immigration (the first and biggest 19th c. migration stream), the decline of the tar trade as sailing ships became obsolete, the dreadful winters and crop failures of the late 1860s.

The settlement of small communities is detailed -- interesting to Upper Peninsula people. I had to stop before the meaty chapters on the Apostolic Finns and the politics and purposes of the 20th c. cooperative movement, headquartered in Superior, Wisconsin. Its relics can be seen throughout Finnish rural areas of Upper Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

Probably the author's bi-cultural perspective, being a native of Finland transplanted to Suomi College in Hancock, Michigan, makes this such an interesting book.