Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie

O. E. Rølvaag’s Giants in the Earth is an epic story of resilience. It follows Norwegian immigrants Per Hansa and Beret as they pursue dreams of homesteading on the untamed Dakota prairie, a land of stark beauty, endless seas of grass, and unforgiving winters, requiring relentless struggle to sustain a living from the earth. As they build their life together, their love is tested by isolation, hardship, and yearning for connection. Will their spirits--like the giants of old--be strong enough to unleash the land’s potential without destroying their unique Norwegian way of life and build a legacy for future generations? Giants in the Earth explores themes of love, loss, faith, cultural identity, and the enduring human spirit in the face of overwhelming odds. Rediscover this overlooked classic of American literature.

This reprinting of Giants in the Earth, featuring an updated introduction and revised annotations by Allan C. Carlson, offers the modern reader thoughtful insights into Rølvaag’s beliefs and hopes about the immigrant experience in America--Norwegian or otherwise.

Ole Edvart Rølvaag (1876-1931) embodies the American story of success. Immigrating to the United States from his native Norway at the age of twenty, he found his path in life through education. Once disparaged by his father as a hopeless student, he earned his bachelor’s (1905) and master’s (1910) degrees from St. Olaf College, where he later became head of the Norwegian Department. His education served to clarify his childhood experiences in Norway and shaped his views of the immigrant experience in America. Giants in the Earth comprises the most complete elaboration of Rølvaag’s thoughts on cultural pluralism, especially the importance of language, churches, and literature in preserving and promoting Norwegian America.

Allan C. Carlson holds his Ph.D. in Modern European History from Ohio University. He has taught at Gettysburg College, Catholic University of America, and Hillsdale College. His seventeen books include The Swedish Experiment in Family Politics: The Myrdals and the Interwar Population Crisis; Third Ways: How Bulgarian Greens, Swedish Housewives, and Beer-Swilling Englishmen Created Family-Centered Economics and Why They Disappeared; The ＂American Way＂ Family and Community in the Shaping of the American Identity; The New Agrarian Mind, and (as editor) Land and Liberty: The Best Essays of FREE AMERICA. For over two decades, he also served as Special Editor of Marriage and Family Studies for Transaction Publishers. His essays have appeared in the ＂Outlook＂ section of The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Modern Age, The Journal of Social Issues, The Hill, The Chesterton Review, Local Culture, The San Diego Law Review, The Los Angeles Times, Social Justice Review, and fifty-seven anthologies. Carlson has lectured at universities and academic centers in twenty countries and has been a frequent media guest on CNN, PBS, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, BBC, and many others. He served as president of the Rockford Institute and of the Howard Center for Family, Religion, and Society and was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the National Commission on Children in 1988. He resides on a farm in northern Illinois.