Pe Ell's Polish Pioneers
Traditional setting of the Christmas Eve table in Poland by Przykuta [ GFDL , CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY-SA 2.5 ], from Wikimedia Commons What was life like for the Polish immigrants in Pe Ell, Washington, one hundred years ago? As told in the words of their descendants today, this book preserves their experiences; their joys, their sorrows, and their struggles to make a better life for themselves and their families as they assimilated into a new country and became Americans. I stumbled across this book at the thrift store this past summer: Pe Ell's Polish Pioneers by Leo E. Kowalski. It seemed really obscure but I decided to give it a try. Lately I've been hankering to learn more about local history, beyond Lewis & Clark and Captain Cook (though their stories still excite me), and I've been interested in Polish history since encountering pieces of it in college courses. The lesser known episodes of history are my favorite, so I thought I might like t...