A Polish Son in the Motherland: An American's Journey Home
by Leonard Kniffel

Searching for the remnants of his family, Leonard Kniffel left Chicago in 2000 to live in Poland. A Polish Son in the Motherland is the story of a search for roots and for the reasons why one family's ties were severed more than fifty years ago. Along the way, we see what half a century of communism did to Poland and how the residue of World War II lingers.

The author's search begins inauspiciously, but he soon meets a local wine merchant and her son, who are eager to reveal the secrets of Nowe Miasto Lubawskie, the town near which his grandmother was born. After he moves in with Adam, a local entrepreneur who trades in everything from shoes and cosmetics to computers and jam, he begins to master his ancestral language and learn the ways of the community from Adam's mother, who loves long walks in the woods--and meals made from what she picks there.

Kniffel's search for a connection to Poland is propelled by memories of the stories his grandmother told him about her emigration to Michigan in 1913. While his family eludes him, the adventure becomes an investigation into the relationship between mothers and the legacy they give their sons.

Poles who emigrated to America, the author concludes, must have been particularly good at assimilating into American culture. Less than fifty years after his maternal grandparents arrived in the United States, barely a trace of their Polishness existed in their grandchildren. Through his grandparents' struggles, their children became American and created a new world for themselves and their descendants.

In returning to Poland himself, Kniffel sought and found a bridge to the "Great Migration" that changed the lives of so many millions--and millions yet to come.

". . . human, genuine, clever, insightful, and humorous. . . contains wonderful depictions of interesting people and situations. The author does a great job depicting the Polish culture and lifestyle, as well as small town life; his descriptions of various festivals, customs, religious ceremonies, etc. give an informative and colorful picture of Poland. . . a pleasure to read."
JAMES FELAK, University of Washington

"Amazing in its rich detail and its unique sense of metaphoric language, this book goes beyond personal memoir. By evoking the history, culture, and landscape of Poland, Kniffel writes of a people filled with heartbreaking loss and deep resilience. In this context, his search for his maternal grandmother's family is particularly poignant. His journey becomes our journey: one of self-discovery and hope, one of longing and reconciliation, the one that truly matters."
LINDA NEMEC FOSTER, poet and author of Amber Necklace from Gdansk

LEONARD KNIFFEL is the editor and publisher of American Libraries, the magazine of the American Library Association. Born and raised in Michigan, he holds masters degrees in English and Library Science from Wayne State University in Detroit. He now lives and works in Chicago.

Publishing House: Texas A&M University Press, College Station 2005
SoftCover book measuring 6" x 9"
246 pages, index
English Language Version

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