(Carl Artur) Vilhelm Moberg - Works in English translation

Writer, born in Algutsboda, S Sweden. From a family of crofters, his unfinished Min svenska historia 1–2 (1970–1, My Swedish History) looks at history from the viewpoint of the illiterate classes. His best-known work is the series of novels that deal with the 19th-c mass migration of Swedes to the USA, including Utvandrarna (1949, The Emigrants), and Sista brevet till Sverige (1959, Last Letter to Sweden). He was a popular playwright, and several of his novels, notably The Emigrants, have been filmed.

Vilhelm Moberg (August 20, 1898 - August 8, 1973) was a Swedish author and historian. He worked as a farm and forest laborer, and later worked at glassblowing and studied at a Folk Academy until he became a recognized author.

Moberg's most famous work is a series of four novels (1949-1959) that describe one Swedish family's migration from Småland to Minnesota in the late 19th century, a destiny shared by almost one million people, including several of the author's relatives. These novels have been translated into English (The Emigrants, 1951, Unto a Good Land, 1954, The Settlers, 1961, The Last Letter Home, 1961) as have some of his other works, and he is well-recognized in America among those of Scandinavian heritage.

With a working class background, Moberg started out as a newspaper editor (in 1919).

In his autobiographical novel Soldier with Broken Rifle (Soldat med brutet gevär), he speaks to the importance of giving voice to the downtrodden, illiterate classes of his forebears.

Vilhelm Moberg committed suicide on August 8, 1973, out of despair over the situation of radical folk culture in Sweden, and is buried in the Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm.

Works in English translation

The Emigrants, ISBN 0873513193. The Settlers, ISBN 0873513215. The Last Letter Home, ISBN 0873513223. The Unknown Swedes: A Book About Swedes and America, Past and Present, ISBN 080931486X.