This book does not tell the story of heroes and their glorious deeds. It tells the story of the poor and the humiliated, for whom emigration was the last hope. Whole groups left the Linth Valley around the middle of the 19th century in search of a better life in distant America. In their homeland, plagued by famine and overpopulation, there was no longer any place for them. Communities paid travel expenses for those willing to emigrate, allowing human traffickers, emigration agents, and transporters to profit greatly. The unfortunate people crossed the vast ocean and often suffered a tragic fate in the distance.