Telling It the Way It Was

<p>Sometimes witty and sometimes serious <i>Telling It the Way It Was</i> provides a narrative of what life was like for the hardy and pragmatic immigrant settlers of the US breadbasket. In this memoir author David Jussero presents a nostalgic tour of life in a predominately Finnish farm community in North Dakota from the turn of the century through the 1940s and '50s.</p><p><i>Telling It the Way It Was</i> relays stories about the hardships and successes of Jussero's Finnish and French ancestors who faced the demands of settling a new country by living in sod houses and braving bitter winters on the North American prairies. He tells about the <i>mixed marriage</i> of his French mother who immigrated to the United States to marry his dad her Finnish sweetheart. Jussero also describes his own experiences growing up on a small wheat farm in North Dakota attending school at one-room schoolhouses dropping out of school at age sixteen and doing dead-end farm jobs which spurred him into trading the life of a hired farmhand for city life. When he was still in his teens he made his way to the West Coast to seek his fortune.</p> <p>Through photographs and stories from the past Jussero passes along his heritage and paints a vivid picture of the sturdy and rugged people who preceded him.</p>