Bücher von Robert Dodge

In the spring of 1853, a family of eight drove their wagon to the wharf in Bergen, Norway. They unloaded their belongings alongside the other stacks labeled, AMERICA, MINNESOTA, ILLINOIS, MICHIGAN, NEW YORK CITY, CHICAGO and boarded the crowded ship. Hopeful, nervous Norwegians-giving up everything for a place they knew of only through second-hand tales of freedom and opportunity-watched as the shoreline retreated, knowing they would never see their homeland again. Their trip ahead would be spent in cramped conditions for two or three months until they reached Ellis Island. The United States, where they were immigrating to, was facing many problems including tensions over slavery and the subsequent beginning of the Civil War. The family moved west to farm the free land that was offered to them but were met with resistance, as it was land that had been cultivated by Native Americans for thousands of years before. The family was nearly eliminated during these times, often referred to as the American Indian Wars. Future generations carried on to the Dakotas and Alberta with difficulties. These Norwegians persisted. Through ardent research and narrative biography, Robert Dodge reflects on the immigrant experience of one Norwegian family from the mid-19th century through World War II in FIELDS OF FORTUNE: 'Viking' Farmers in America.

Kahassai fled the Ethiopian Red Terror that killed his father and hundreds of thousands of others, trekking through a snake-infested jungle while hyenas followed him at night to find safety.Georgette crossed the Congo while the Hutus and Tutsis struggled for control as millions of defenseless people were murdered and displaced. "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"Asmi and Leela were children in Bhutan when soldiers burned their villages and drove out the Nepalese-speaking Hindus. Roy narrowly escaped Afghanistan after the Americans began bombing Kabul to drive our the Taliban. Mahn made it out of Vietnam only after his twenty-second attempt. Mohammed survived daily beatings when imprisoned in Syria, though many of his fellow prisoners died.What do these people have in common beyond tales of horror and hardship that caused them to flee their countries, leaving their homes, families and previous lives behind? They all found a new place to live in Denver, Colorado, in the middle the country. But would they be welcome? Would they find a new home, a new beginning, in the "Queen City of the Plains," the golden door to their future? Or would they forever be the homeless, the tempest-tost?In TEMPEST-TOST, author Robert Dodge attempts to answer that question by describing the circumstances that caused these Denver refugees to flee their homes and their experiences after they arrived in the Denver. This is the refugee story behind the headlines and political posturing. This is what coming to America has meant to refugees in America, as represented by various refugees communities that over the years have come to think of Denver, Colorado as home.Through their eyes.