At the Blue Hills Above the Forks: Pennsylvania Dutch Culture in Northampton County's Slate Belt

Bangor, PA: Slate Belt Heritage Center, 2009. Paperback. Very Good+/None. Signed. Glossy pictorial softcover with black titling on front. SIGNED by the author on title page; Interior is otherwise unmarked and clean. Binding is sound; Spine is uncreased. Bottom front corner of cover is lightly creased, a bit softened. Limited printing, #256 of 500. Quarto. BOOK INFO: See photos for Table of Contents. Illustrated in color and B&W. 'The Pennsylvania German experience was one of the earliest examples of this process [of establishing an identity as an immigrant population]. In 2008, we celebrated the 325th anniversary of their landing in America. Along with the Scots-Irish, they were among the first and largest groups of Europeans to settle in the blue valley that we call the Slate Belt. As we follow their journey, we'll try to dispel popular misunderstandings and find out who they were, from where, when, and why they came, how others saw them and how they saw themselves, and what beliefs, customs, and material culture they contributed to our Slate Belt heritage. At the turn of the millenium, some people thought the Pennsylvania Germans had more or less disappeared. In fact, they are stilil here. They have simply become more American.... There is a wealth of material on the Pennsylvania Dutch, although not much focuses on our corner of Northampton County, where the Dutch seem woefully negleccted. Like many people in the Slate Belt, my appreciation of the Pennsylvania Germans owes much to grandparents who spoke with Dutch accents and an occasional dialect word. As folks steeped in the old culture but many generations removed from immigration, they were living examples of the assimilation/acculturation process.' (-from the Introduction by the author.)