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They Took My Father A Story of Idealism and Betrayal Mayme Sevander and Laurie Hertzel |
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A riveting memoir of one family’s struggle under a totalitarian regime. “Mayme Sevander and Laurie Hertzel tell a poignant tale of a hidden corner of U.S. and Soviet history. Tracing the hopes and hardships of one family over two continents, They Took My Father explores the boundaries of loyalty, identity, and ideals.” —Amy Goldstein, Washington Post “What makes Mayme’s story so uniquely—almost unbelievably—tragic is that her family chose to move from the United States to the Soviet Union in 1934, thinking they were going to help build a ‘worker’s paradise.’ They found, instead, a deadly nightmare.” —St. Paul Pioneer Press “This gripping and timely book traces the beginnings of communism not as dry history but as a fascinating personal drama that spreads across Russia, Finland, and the mining towns of Upper Michigan and the Iron Range of Minnesota. An important and largely ignored part of history comes alive in one woman’s story of her tragic family, caught up in the all-consuming struggle of the twentieth century.” —Frank Lynn, political reporter, New York Times “Mayme Sevander, with Laurie Hertzel, tells the shocking and poignant story of thousands of Finnish families, including her own, that left their homes in the Midwest in order to establish Socialist communities in Stalinist Russia during the 1930s. Sevander’s survivor tale of her family’s courageous journey offers a well-written perspective on a Scandinavian story that is not often told.” —Minnesota History Mayme Sevander (1924–2003) was born in Brule, Wisconsin, and emigrated with her family to the Soviet Union in 1934. Laurie Hertzel is a journalist at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. 208 pages | 16 halftones, 1 map | 6 x 9 | 2004 |
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$16.95 Paper [an error occurred while processing this directive]