History of the Czechs in Montana and Elsewhere in the Northwest

MontanaHistoricalSociety

Beginning in the second half of the nineteenth century, thousands dreamed of leaving Bohemia(then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) for the country of endless hope. They were driven by a vision of better living conditions and quick riches, as well as a desire to escape political, religious, and national oppression. In History of the Czechs in Montana and Elsewhere in the Northwest, Dr. Martin Nekola, coordinator of the Czechoslova Talks Project, focuses on the Czechs—more than 350,000 of whom lived in the United States at the outbreak of World War I—who settled in this region.