When I was a Child by Moberg, Vilhelm - 1956

Knopf, NY, 1956. 1st edition, 2nd printing. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. "..the image, or more precisely, the ideal,of America hovered before the inner eye of poor Swedish peasants for the better part of a century. No family was without rellatives in the land of milk and honey...in some families all sons emigrated - except the one left behind to take care of his aging parents. In 'When I was a Child' [Moberg] "...has turned back to his own memories... He tells of the materially impoverished but spiritually rich life of a farm boy; of the havoc wrought by the long military service of his father...; of the retun of his father, unable to work and mortally ill; of how [the boy, Valter] became a factory 'pale face'; of how... resentment against factory conditions and other econmic probblems swept the countryside, lending strength to the Young Socialist movement... [and] the desire to escape to America; of how his father died exhorting Valter...to stay with his mother, imposing upon him a profound moral dilemma; and of how young Valeter finally solved it." [Dust Jacket] Early 20th century. Autobiographical fiction. There is a protective mylar cover. 1ST EDITION, 2ND PRINTING.