Analyzes the role of the Germans from Russia in the new land of Oklahoma and the contributions that they made to Oklahoma history.

"Hardship to Homeland" recounts Volga Germans' unique story in a saga that stretches from Germany to Russia and across the Atlantic. In 1763, Russian empress Catherine II invited Europeans to immigrate. Colonists became Russian citizens, yet kept their language and culture, founding 104 Volga River communities. By 1871, facing poor economic conditions and an army draft, 100,000 Volga Germans poured into the New World, eventually spreading throughout the Pacific Northwest and influencing agriculture, religion, politics, and social development in their new homeland. First published as "The Volga Germans" in 1985, this revised and expanded edition offers a new introduction and collection of folk stories illustrated by Jim Gerlitz.

Many people living in the Dakotas, Kansas and Nebraska share a German-Russian heritage. The Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta and the states Washington, Oregon, California and others also have a smattering of German-Russians. They are so called because their ancestors moved to Russia from German territories in the late 1700s and early 1800s, and then moved to the Americas in the late 1800s and early 1900s.Those original German-Russians created an agricultural and industrial empire, and then many of them left it all behind to begin anew somewhere in the Americas. Their story is a colorful and fascinating tale filled with triumph and tragedy.