{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0816667446?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0816667446","authors":["Eric Dregni"],"book_id":"9780816667444","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/vikings-in-the-attic-9780816667444","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780816667444.jpg?v=e84e789df9921d43","description":"Growing up with Swedish and Norwegian grandparents with a dash of Danish thrown in for balance, Eric Dregni thought Scandinavians were perfectly normal. Who doesn’t enjoy a good, healthy salad (Jell-O packed with canned fruit, colored marshmallows, and pretzels) or perhaps some cod soaked in drain cleaner as the highlights of Christmas? Only later did it dawn on him that perhaps this was just a little strange, but by then it was far too late: he was hooked and a dyed-in-the-wool Scandinavian himself. But what does it actually mean to grow up Scandinavian-American or to live with these Norwegians, Swedes, Finns, Danes, and Icelanders among us? In Vikings in the Attic, Dregni tracks down and explores the significant—and quite often bizarre—historic sites, tales, and traditions of Scandinavia’s peculiar colony in the Midwest. It’s a legacy of the unique—collecting silver spoons, a suspicion of flashy clothing, shots of turpentine for the common cold, and a deep love of rhubarb pie—but also one of poor immigrants living in sod houses while their children attend college, the birth of the co-op movement, the Farmer–Labor party, and government agents spying on Scandinavian meetings hoping to nab a socialist or antiwar activist. For all the tales his grandparents told him, Dregni quickly discovers there are quite a few they neglected to mention, such as Swedish egg coffee, which includes the eggshell, and Lutheran latte, which is Swedish coffee with ice cream. Vikings in the Attic goes beyond the lefse, lutefisk, and lusekofter (lice jacket) sweaters to reveal the little-known tales that lie beneath the surface of Nordic America. Ultimately, Dregni ends up proving by example why generations of Scandinavian-Americans have come to love and cherish these tales and traditions so dearly. Well, almost all of them.* * See lutefisk.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780816667444","publication_date":"20140601","publisher":"University of Minnesota Press","slug":"vikings-in-the-attic","subtitle":"In Search of Nordic America","title":"Vikings in the Attic"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"TRV009120","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Scandinavia Travel","score":0.7369,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LCO008050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Scandinavian Literary Collections","score":0.7166,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036100","confidence_band":"medium","label":"New England History","score":0.6851,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"TRV009120","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Scandinavia Travel","score":0.7369,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LCO008050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Scandinavian Literary Collections","score":0.7166,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036100","confidence_band":"medium","label":"New England History","score":0.6851,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"HIS036090","confidence_band":"high","label":"Midwest History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS044000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Scandinavian History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SOC008000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Ethnic Studies","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Scandinavia Travel","score":0.7369,"slug":"scandinavia-travel"},{"label":"Scandinavian Literary Collections","score":0.7166,"slug":"scandinavian-literary-collections"},{"label":"New England History","score":0.6851,"slug":"new-england-history"}],"reader_fit":["For readers interested in Scandinavian-American history and Midwestern traditions"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Neil Price"],"book_id":"9781541601116","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781541601116.jpg?v=4e50539a3f381c1d","score":0.7269,"title":"Children of Ash and Elm","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781541601116"},{"authors":["John Haywood"],"book_id":"9781250106148","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781250106148.jpg?v=33d985d5153cc656","score":0.7197,"title":"Northmen","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781250106148"},{"authors":["Anu Partanen"],"book_id":"9780062316554","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780062316554.jpg?v=c98be25c3795c512","score":0.6942,"title":"The Nordic Theory of Everything","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780062316554"},{"authors":["Heather Pringle"],"book_id":"9781426222023","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781426222023.jpg?v=c8d65d9903cc17b1","score":0.6818,"title":"The Northwomen","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781426222023"},{"authors":["Tore Skeie","Alison McCullough"],"book_id":"9781782278351","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781782278351.jpg?v=2d732741ea09e02a","score":0.6728,"title":"The Wolf Age","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781782278351"}],"topics":[],"what_you_get":["Themes: Scandinavian-American traditions, Nordic immigration in the Midwest, Labor and political activism.","Reading lane: Scandinavia Travel and Scandinavian Literary Collections.","Publisher: University of Minnesota Press."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.9,"pacing":"unknown","reader_fit":["For readers interested in Scandinavian-American history and Midwestern traditions"],"themes":["Scandinavian-American traditions","Nordic immigration in the Midwest","Labor and political activism"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":49,"goodreads_ratings_count":137,"goodreads_reviews_count":16,"quality_score":0.8826}}