Nordic Book Club, March 2025

Join us in March as we read Muus vs. Muus: The Scandal that Shook Norwegian America, by Norwegian historian Bodil Stenseth . The book was translated from the original by Kari Lie Dorer and Torild Homstad.

From the publisher:

In 1880s Minnesota a remarkable lawsuit posed questions about cultural practicesin an immigrant community and the rights of its members as Americans—inspiring a wide-reaching debate about faith and family. Copublished with the Norwegian-American Historical Association on the occasion of St. Olaf College’s sesquicentennial, Muus v. Muus is the American edition of a volume originally published in Norway. Newly translated, this gripping narrative details a prominent nineteenth-century Lutheran couple’s separation, which signaled a cultural shift. Oline Muus was many things: a Norwegian immigrant, a pastor’s wife, a mother, and a valued member of her rural Minnesota congregation. But when she sued her husband to recoup her inheritance, she gained notoriety throughout Norwegian America and…