A Slovenian village

the long version

This book describes the village of Zerovnica, located in the Notranjska region of Slovenia, where Irene Portis Winner lived for several years while researching the people and their history. It is a great collection of historical, cultural, economical, geographical and sociological snapshots of life in Europe from prehistoric times through to the early 1970's. The village, like so many others, experienced many different political systems, two major world wars, and emigration of many of the townspeople. She describes the feudal system, how agriculture functioned within this system, development of peasant classes, how villages were established and organized, every day life during specific time periods, the communist system in Slovenia. Many people emigrated from Zerovnica to the US, specifically Cleveland at the end of the 19th and beginning of 20th century because of the agrarian depression in Europe, changing lifestyles and large family size.