Between 1870 and 2010 over half a million Slovaks migrated to the USA and Canada. As other ethnic groups from East Central Europe, they headed principally to the industrial triangle of the USA and to central Canada's cities in search of work. Finding themselves in strange surroundings, they quickly established institutions that helped them to survive in a capitalist economy and to also preserve their religion, language and culture. As for many other ethnic groups, the border between the USA and Canada was to them irrelevant. Slovaks crossed it according to economic need and stayed in touch with each other. Meanwhile, they also remained in touch with their families in Europe and helped their people to survive Magyarization in Austria-Hungary, to achieve self-determination in the new Republic of Czechoslovakia and, finally, independence.
For the first time ever, the author has told the epic story of Slovak immigration to North America. Based upon forty years of archival and library research, supplemented by the life histories of over two dozen families scattered across the USA and Canada, and lavishly illustrated, this book will satisfy both academics and the general public who have long been waiting for a comprehensive history of this significant member of the family of Slavic nations.

M. Mark Stolarik (*1943) was born in wartime Slovakia. Evacuated by his parents in 1945, he lived with his family as a refugee in Austria until 1950. He grew up in Canada and earned his BA and MA degrees at the University of Ottawa and his PhD at the University of Minnesota. Stolarik taught history at the Cleveland State University and worked as an historical researcher at Canada's National Museum of Man; from 1979 to 1991 he served as President and CEO of the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies in Philadelphia. Since 1992 he has held the Chair in Slovak History and Culture at the University of Ottawa. He is the author or editor of eight books and over sixty articles in professional journals.

Contents: Slovak immigration to the USA - Austria-Hungary during World War I - The Rise and Fall of Czechoslovakia - The Slovak Republic - Refugees in Austria - American Slovaks to the Rescue - Life in Communist Czechoslovakia - Slovak immigration to Canada - The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia - Slovak families in the USA and Canada reunited - Slovak life in Cleveland, Ohio - Adjusting to Canada - Slovak Marxists in the USA and Canada disagree - Double lives in Minneapolis, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Ottawa - The Slovak community in Philadelphia - The struggle against Communism in both the Old World and the New.