Cabin, which proved to be formidable propaganda in the northern states. Yet her book is not mentioned in the diary. The portentous Kansas-Ne• braska Act of 1854 receives no attention. Yankee resentment toward "foreigners," as expressed in the nativist Know-Nothing movement, also goes without comment. One looks almost in vain for any influence of American politics upon the life of the Koren household or the community. Mrs. Koren helpfully portrays the homey side of the immigrant frontier, while at the same time fulfilling her responsibilities in the parish. There appears to be more of the domestic Martha and less of the devout Mary in her record. Nevertheless, the Koren experience is not limited to the parochial and the personal. As with many immigrant accounts, the universal transcends the particular, for those who wish to see. To dissect the diary would be unwise and unfair, depriving it of its vitality. Elisabeth tells her story honestly and straightforwardly. Like her Swedish neighbors in and elsewhere, she survived the trauma of adjustment to the demands of her new environment and, in the process, contributed sig• nificantly to the development of church and community. From the vantage point of today she represents the numerous women who played important roles in the growing American society of the nineteenth century. ARLOW W. ANDERSEN Neenah, Wisconsin

J. Irving Erickson. TWICE-BORN HYMNS. : Covenant Press, 1976.

Among the last lingering ties with Swedish culture for a great many Swedish-Americans are the Swedish hymns, and the English translations of them sung to Swedish tunes, which they sang at home, in Sunday School, and in church. In recent years fewer and fewer of these hymns can be found in our American hymn-books. The one exception is the latest hymnal of the Evangelical Covenant Church of 1973, which preserves in English most of the Swedish hymns treasured by Swedish-American church-goers, whatever their denominational connection. Here are found also many distinctively Covenant hymns written in Swedish here in America. Among authors of the latter are such well-known names as A. L. Skoog, J. A. Hultman, and Nils Frykman. Now the chairman of the Covenant's hymnal commission, J. Irving Erickson, has distilled the greatest part of the distinctly Swedish and Swedish-American hymns in that book into a paper-bound, magazine- sized book called Twice-Born Hymns. He has thus made them easily available to all who might treasure them, but would not want to buy the complete Covenant Hymnal. The title refers, of course, to the origin of most of these hymns in the nineteenth-century pietist revival movements in and Amer• ica. But it does not imply any sectarian exclusiveness, since almost all Swedish-American churches were strongly influenced by those move• ments. The selection is actually broader than the title implies. It also includes many of the best hymns from the Psalmbok, the Church of Swe-

221 den's official hymnal, in the translations used in the Augustana Synod's Hymnal of 1925. I suspect the title was also partly chosen with the hope that these hymns might be given a second birth and a second life in the English language. Erickson also has written a very interesting and substantial history of Scandinavian and Scandinavian-American hymns and hymnals as an intro• duction. This "Historical Sketch" is and will probably permanently re• main the most complete and authoritative treatment of those subjects in English. Carefully researched here and in Sweden, it is nevertheless very readable and popular in style. Twice-Born Hymns also gives interesting, brief comments about the origin and use of each hymn. Brief biographical sketches of each hymn- text author and each composer are also provided. This makes the book a valuable reference tool and adds a personal touch to the hymns. But the most enjoyable use of this book would be to get old friends together around the family piano or dining table and just sing and sing its well-remembered songs. There are 15 of them! Only one of my child• hood favorites is missing, the song our family always sang around the Christmas tree—"Glada julafton, härliga, klara!" (original Swedish: "Hell dig, Julafton"). But I can forgive J. Irving for that, when he has produced such a fine inclusive and useful volume for us all. It should serve to keep one small part of our Swedish heritage alive in America for many years to come. JOEL W. LUNDEEN Lutheran Archives, Lutheran Church in America

Bo Kronoborg, Thomas Nilsson, Andres A. Svalestuen. NORDIC POPULA• TION MOBILITY: COMPARATIVE STUDIES OF SELECTED PARISHES IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES 1850-1900. American Studies in Scandina• via, 9:1-2. Oslo: Universitetsforlag, 1977. 170 pp.

During the 1960s and 1970s a series of inter-Nordic and national re• search projects were developed which focused upon a wide variety of historical themes. These included an intensive study of Swedish history during World War II, a cross-national examination of land usage in medi• eval Scandinavia; and, most familiar to the readers of this QUARTERLY, the "Uppsala Migration Research Project." Each of these efforts, staffed by recognized scholars and graduate students, produced a large number of important publications, including "final reports" which have taken the form of of multi-authored collections reflecting the projects' efforts. From Sweden to America (1976) was such a volume. Similarly, Nordic Popula• tion Mobility, published in the important series, American Studies in Scan• dinavia, summarizes some of the work of the Nordic Emigration Research Project. This group was formed in 1969 to examine population movements in the Scandinavian countries during the second half of the nineteenth century. 222