Searching for the remnants of his family, Leonard Kniffel left Chicago 
in 2000 to live in Poland. A Polish Son in the Motherland is the story 
of a search for roots and for the reasons why one family's ties were 
severed more than fifty years ago. Along the way, we see what half 
a century of communism did to Poland and how the residue of World 
War II lingers.

    The author's search begins inauspiciously, but he soon meets a 
local wine merchant and her son, who are eager to reveal the secrets 
of Nowe Miasto Lubawskie, the town near which his grandmother was 
born. After he moves in with Adam, a local entrepreneur who trades in 
everything from shoes and cosmetics to computers and jam, he begins 
to master his ancestral language and learn the ways of the community 
from Adam's mother, who loves long walks in the woods—and meals 
made from what she picks there.

    Kniffel's search for a connection to Poland is propelled by memories 
of the stories his grandmother told him about her emigration to 
Michigan in 1913. While his family eludes him, the adventure becomes 
an investigation into the relationship between mothers and the legacy 
they give their sons.

    Poles who emigrated to America, the author concludes, must have 
been particularly good at assimilating into American culture. Less than 
fifty years after his maternal grandparents arrived in the United States, 
barely a trace of their Polishness existed in their grandchildren. 
Through his grandparents' struggles, their children became American 
and created a new world for themselves and their descendants.

    In returning to Poland himself, Kniffel sought and found a bridge to 
the "Great Migration" that changed the lives of so many millions—and 
millions yet to come.

_________________________________________________________

LEONARD KNIFFEL is the editor and publisher of American Libraries,
the magazine of the American Library Association. Born and raised in 
Michigan, he holds masters degrees in English and library science 
from Wayne State University in Detroit. He now lives and works in 
Chicago.



What people are saying about this book

". . . a charming and novel-like memoir . .  . filled with interesting 
characters."—Library Journal, September 2005

". . . human, genuine, clever, insightful, and humorous . . . contains 
wonderful depictions of interesting people and situations. The author 
does a great job depicting the Polish culture and lifestyle, as well as 
small town life; his descriptions of various festivals, customs, religious 
ceremonies, etc. give an informative and colorful picture of Poland.
 . . . a pleasure to read."—James Felak, University of Washington

"Kniffel's A Polish Son in the Motherland is both Poland and a more 
personal geography. This is a lovely book, closely observed, intelligent, 
humorous and also wistful, as Kniffel muses on the might-have-beens 
along with the past."—Elizabeth Ehrlich, author, Miriam's Kitchen:
A Memoir

"Leonard Kniffel writes with such naturalness, humor, and shared 
humanity that his personal journey of discovery of The Motherland 
becomes the reader's journey as well. Kniffel's keen observation is 
ultimately a measure of the depth of his feeling."—Stuart Dybek, author 
of Coast of Chicago

". . . this book goes beyond personal memoir. By evoking the history, 
culture, and landscape of Poland, Kniffel writes of a people filled with 
heartbreaking loss and deep resilience. . . . His journey becomes our
journey: one of self-discovery and hope, one of longing and 
reconciliation, the one that truly matters."—Linda Nemec Foster, poet 
and author of Amber Necklace from Gdansk