Sweet Promised Land

De: Robert Laxalt

Narrado por: Roberto Prado

How long has it been since you fell in love with a book?

Dominique Laxalt was 16 when he left the French Pyrenees for America. He became a sheepherder in the Nevada desert and nearby hills of the Sierra. Like all his fellow Basque immigrants, Dominique dreamed of someday returning to the land of his beginnings. Most Basques never made the journey back, but Dominique finally did return for a visit with family and friends. Sweet Promised Land is the story of that trip, told by his son Robert, who accompanied him to the pastoral mountain village of Tardets in France. Dominique came home victorious, the adventurer who had conquered the unknown and found his fortune in the New World. He told of his life in America, the hardships and challenges, and began to realize that he had changed since his departure from Tardets. By the end of the visit, he knew with certainty where he belonged.

During the past 50 years, this book has become a classic in Western American literature, still beloved by the Basque American community. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the book’s publication, Western literature scholar Ann Ronald wrote a new foreword, discussing the book in the context of American and Nevada literature.

©1957 Robert Laxalt (P)2021 Audible, Inc.

Great story of a Basque immigrant

My grandpa died 2 years ago. He was born in 1922 and came from basque immigrants. They herded sheep up and down California. I lived with my grandpa most of my childhood. My grandpa and I were very close and helped raise me. In my grief, I started to get to know the basque culture more. I have found that in these books (not just this one), I find my grandpa. The reader pronounces the basque words very well and the images of his father brings me back to my grandpa. I love that he makes it back home to the Basque Country which didn’t happen a lot for the people who immigrated here. I especially love his dad’s one suit. My grandpa used to say he had good shoes, or he had a jacket and didn’t need anymore. He lived a very simple life. We also were fond of sitting on the floor at home. Not that my present day family was sheep herders but we found comfort on the floor. Cracking nuts, staying cool or on the floor furnace. I’m slowly reading Robert’s books. Wish more were on audible. Recommend it to anyone looking for a personal account of a basque immigrant family and the culture.

What a great read

I am all too familiar with the Basque community as I have been raised around them, my whole life. I am unfamiliar with being a immigrant from another country. I never understood the hardships until reading about it. This was a good book and I really am grateful to have discovered it.

A great Basque history story

Loved the descriptions of Dominque Laxalt, an old man who immigrated from the Basque Country, growing up in Nevada as Dominque’s and visiting the Basque Country with Dominque as an old man. Very well written story of a rarely written part of history.