"Germans are the largest single immigrant group in Minnesota history and perhaps its most invisible. Exploring this paradox, author Kathleen Neils Conzen recounts the struggles and triumphs of the Germans who transformed acres of wilderness into productive farms and brought to America their love of art, music, and sociability. She not only discusses the well-known enclaves in Brown and Stearns Counties but also looks at the smaller communities and the Twin Cities. In recent times, a renewed interest in German heritage can be seen in towns like New Ulm, home to the statue of Hermann the German and Heritagefest, the annual summer ethnic festival."--Jacket.