The Norwegian Black Sheep

This book is a biographical account of the life and times of my paternal grandfather William Gunderson Sr. He was overall a very complicated man with a brutal and cruel streak to his character. But he likely did not become that way overnight! His childhood, his relationship to his parents, as well as his own natural tendencies, led him down the path of on the one hand becoming a man that my father looked up to but also a tyrant of his own household. Growing up in the streets of 1940s-era Brooklyn, he eventually went on to marry my Italian-American grandmother during the late 50s and had three sons in scenic Massapequa, New York. This story is not just the story of my grandfather, but also the story of my whole paternal family line and puts together the legacy bequeathed to me, my sisters, and my cousins. Genealogy, American history, immigrant history, and religious history all synch together to make this book/biography/memoir a tale not just for me and my family, but for anyone vaguely interested in exploring their own roots. I sincerely hope that any, and all readers will be able to get something out of it!