Member: New England Translators Association (President 1997-2001)
American Translators Association
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Reviews of: Lives and Letters of an Immigrant Family

Merle Ruben in "A nation's history in a family's memory," The Christian Science Monitor, May 27, 1999:

"... Rather than simply offer a selection of letters, the translator, Kenneth Kronenberg, uses them as the centerpiece of a history and the history of the times. Discussing everything from 19th-century German student organizations to the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment in America, Kronenberg supplies us with the background necessary to understanding this family's story - and the stories of many more like them. As Kronenberg reminds us, 'Emigration tore people from their families and homes.... No wonder that emigrants did whatever they could to stay in touch with loved ones.'...The van Dreveldts were no exception. Their richly descriptive, strongly expressive letters are in some ways even more worth reading a century and a half later."

Frederick C. Luebke in The Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. XXX, No. 4 (Winter 1999):

"... Kronenberg provides a text to bind extensive quotations from the letters into a coherent narrative of immigrant experience. The result is a fascinating case study of the dynamics of an often dysfunctional immigrant family.... Kronenberg's translations are graceful throughout and, one may safely presume, true to the original language."

Joan Ferris Curran in National Genealogical Society Quarterly, May 1, 2000:

"Why did immigrant ancestors pull up stakes in the Old Country? How did they adjust to their new lives in America? These are questions all genealogies ponder, but few find satisfactory answers. Van Dreveldt descendents have a wonderful advantage. Their forebears were prodigious letter-writers, who described their adaptation to America in colorful detail for relatives back in western Europe. Fortunately, those letters were saved. Kronenberg has translated them and set their contents into historical perspective by describing relevant events in Europe and this country during the mid-nineteenth century....This family saga, documented as it is by contemporaneous correspondence, can help descendants of other families understand the experiences of their own immigrating ancestors. While few find letters such as this... similar study on the parts of America in which [immigrants] settled can help descendents understand ancestral difficulties in adapting to a completely new way of life. The exercise guarantees a deeper empathy for ancestors as individuals..."

Donald D. Oster in Agricultural History, Vol. 74, No. 1 (Winter 2000):

"The letters make up a highly personal story of a German family's flight from Prussian hypocrisy to the political freedom and economic opportunities of America....The letters are valuable for several reasons. When reading them, one obtains a sense of both the 'push' factor of European emigration and the 'pull' factor of America. One also realizes that a person's basic personality does not change even though there is appreciable environmental change....The letters even encourage one to wonder about how many individuals lived to regret their return to Europe after having immigrated to America."

Priest Goossens and His Children

This page was added on August 20, 2000