My America

My America is a rich record of Midwestern pioneer life from 1867 to 1910. Everett Bloemendaal originally wrote it in Dutch for Netherlands citizens considering emigration. When first published in the Netherlands in 1911, his assessment of farming opportunities from Texas to Canada, from Michigan to the Dakotas, offered Dutch men and women a valuable resource for making a life-changing decision. Today the value of My America far exceeds that original purpose. Everett recorded both the exterior and inner life of a Dutch-American pioneer-and he knew how to tell a good story. He tells of dust storms, grasshopper hordes, and bumper crops. Through his eyes, readers see the disasters, drama, and dreams of a vanished era. In the words of translator Conrad Veenstra, readers experience "what our pioneers undertook to transform wild prairies into fruitful farms."