In 1833, two young adult German intellectuals, a rationalist minister named Friedrich Muench and a lawyer named Paul Follenius, formed a society in the city of Giessen in state of Hesse Darmstadt for the purpose of emigrating to the United States. They were disappointed by the failure of the 39 separate German states to unite into a national, democratic government, that was open to talent and based on equality before the law. They aimed to lead a movement to bring so many Germans to an area on the American frontier that the area could become a state within the American federal union in which the German language and German culture prevailed. At first they planned to go to Arkansas Territory but, on the eve of departure from Germany, they decided on the young State of Missouri.This Giessen Society soon broke up in America. Its members settled in Missouri, Illinois and elsewhere. Follenius died young, but Muench eventually became one o the most respected Midwestern German-American writers.

The book, whose essays come from both German and American scholars, is a tour de force (if one may use a French phrase.) One is immediately impressed by the many and arresting illustrations--modern photographs taken with impressive artistry in Germany and America, and high-quality reproductions of 19th century prints, letters and official documents, Much new or little-known information has been gleaned both from obscure German publications of the 1830s and from archives in Germany and in America.

This is a dual language book in both German and English. And herein is a bit of a problem. The translation of the first two substantial essays (by Kilian Spiethoff and Rolf Schmidt) from the original German to English is a disappointment. It is sometimes awkward, and even in a few cases inaccurate. (This reviewer is not sufficiently fluent in German to fully assess the translation into German of those essays originally written in English.) Nonetheless, this magnificent book is highly recommended to readers of either language. ( )