Austin Returns with a Multi-Generational Historical Novel Geesje de Jonge crossed the ocean at age seventeen with her parents and a small group of immigrants from the Netherlands to settle in the Michigan wilderness. Fifty years later, in 1897, she's asked to write a memoir of her early experiences as the town celebrates its anniversary. Reluctant at first, she soon uncovers memories and emotions hidden all these years, including the story of her one true love. At the nearby Hotel Ottawa Resort on the shore of Lake Michigan, twenty-three-year-old Anna Nicholson is trying to ease the pain of a broken engagement to a wealthy Chicago banker. But her time of introspection is disturbed after a violent storm aboard a steamship stirs up memories of a childhood nightmare. As more memories and dreams surface, Anna begins to question who she is and whether she wants to return to her wealthy life in Chicago. When she befriends a young seminary student who is working at the hotel for the summer, she finds herself asking him all the questions that have been troubling her. Neither Geesje nor Anna, who are different in every possible way, can foresee the life-altering surprises awaiting them before the summer ends.

Even though they are historically one of the smaller immigrant streams, nineteenth-century Dutch migrants and their descendants have made parts of West Michigan their own. The first Dutch in Michigan were religious dissenters whose commitment to Calvinism had long-reaching effects on their communities, even in the face of later waves of radicalized industrial immigrants and the challenges of modern life. From Calvin College to Meijer Thrifty Acres and the Tulip Festival, the Dutch presence has enriched and informed people throughout the state. Larry ten Harmsel skillfully weaves together the strands of history and modern culture to create a balanced and sensitive portrayal of this vibrant community.

Images of Canadianness offers backgrounds and explanations for a series of relevant--if relatively new--features of Canada, from political, cultural, and economic angles. Each of its four sections contains articles written by Canadian and European experts that offer original perspectives on a variety of issues: voting patterns in English-speaking Canada and Quebec; the vitality of French-language communities outside Quebec; the Belgian and Dutch immigration waves to Canada and the resulting Dutch-language immigrant press; major transitions taking place in Nunavut; the media as a tool for self-government for Canada's First Peoples; attempts by Canadian Indians to negotiate their position in society; the Canada-US relationship; Canada's trade with the EU; and Canada's cultural policy in the light of the information highway.

Swierenga (research professor, A.C. Van Raalte Institute for Historical Studies) presents an account of Dutch immigration to the United States, and the effects it had on American politics and social life, especially in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, and rural Indiana. Using a wide range of sources including emigration records, US customs passenger lists, and US census data, Swierenga offers a picture of their life and culture, with special attention to family structure, religion, and working life. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

There is no such thing as a small genealogical research project. Family histories, like precocious children, always challenge their authors with more and more questions. Paul C. Van Dyke discovered this fact when he wrote a genealogy of his branch of the Van Dyke family in the late 1950s. That project led Mr. Van Dyke to explore and research the whole history of the Van Dyke family in America. This excellent book, based on primary sources recounting the Dutch settlement of New Jersey, is the fruit of those years of research. It is fundamentally a Dutch-American history. Incorporating a wide variety of historical accounts, original documents and illustrations, Mr. Van Dyke has written a compelling and richly informative account of nine generations of Van Dykes and the nearly three centuries of American history that serve as a backdrop. Thomas Van Dyck of Amsterdam was the 16th-century patriarch whose story opens the book, and the author also includes helpful background information on Holland's golden age of exploration and the Dutch East India Company. Thomas' son, Jan Van Dyck, and his family immigrated to New Amsterdam in 1652, eventually settling in New Utrecht on Long Island. Jan Jansen Van Dyck was the third generation, and his son John Van Dyck participated in the large Dutch migration (c.1711) to the Millstone Valley in Middlesex and Somerset Counties in the prerevolutionary province of New Jersey. The subsequent generations of Van Dyck farmers in New Jersey were well-respected, patriotic members of such communities as New Brunswick, Princeton, Trenton, Ten Mile Run, Penns Neck, Rocky Hill, Harlingen, Griggstown, Bridgepoint, Kingston, Millstone, Somerville, Franklin, Montgomery and West Windsor. When they deemed the time appropriate, some of these hard-working and versatile Dutch broke with the farm tradition to enter upon various commercial occupations and the professions, as exemplified in the final chapter and appendices of the book. Every chapter opens with a genealogical note that provides vital statistics such as birth, marriage and death dates. The names of spouses and children are always included in the narrative accounts of the subjects. Numerous appendices furnish additional details, often through transcriptions of original wills, deeds, military records, etc. A bibliography and separate indices for subjects and surnames are included. (