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New in paperback
Czech Voices |
Although the personal stories told here began in Europe, all ten recount a history of Texas as seen by one of the state's largest immigrant ethnic groups. The narratives, originally printed in the midwestern Czech-language journal Amerikán národní kalendár, tell the story of the immigrants as they arrived in the mid-nineteenth century and provide a picture of this culture that goes beyond the kolache pastries and polka dancing popularly associated with Czech Americans.
Among the writers are important leaders, adventurers, journalists, and typical farmers. Their impressions of the immigrants' hard daily lives, religious conflicts, the American Civil War, and their own identity bring to life an era that other sources rarely reveal.
Clinton Machann and James W. Mendl, Jr., who have selected and translated these stories, provide an interpretive introduction, informative notes, and a bibliography that help to place the life stories in their historical and cultural context. Before Czech Voices' hardcover release in 1991, these narratives had never before been generally available. The importance of and pleasure in reading primary sources like these was apparent in the book's initial reception.
"Czech Voices captures the spirit of early Czech settlers and rekindles interest in primary sources."—Southwestern Historical Quarterly
CLINTON MACHANN is associate professor of English at Texas A&M University. JAMES W. MENDL, JR., teaches in the public schools of Taylor, Texas, and also teaches Czech for the continuing education division of the University of Texas at Austin.
Number Thirty-nine: The Centennial Series of the Association of Former Students, Texas A&M University
Czech Voices
ISBN 0-89096-846-2 paper $16.95
LC 90-43294. 5 1/2x8 1/2 184 pp. 10 b&w photos. Bib. Index.
Texana. Multicultural Topics.
Publication Date: August 1998.
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