When Ansgar and Kristine lost their Wisconsin farmstead to foreclosure in April of 1935, Albert Victor Ravenholt, the oldest of nine surviving children, stepped up and provided the family with invaluable resources. This biography tells the story of Albert's remarkable life beginning on a small Wisconsin dairy farm, to his travels abroad and his work as a writer and foreign correspondent in the Orient. West over the Seas to the Orient begins as Albert emerges from his boyhood a stellar student, and it details the journey of his fascinating career-attending Grand View College in Des Moines, Iowa; working as a steward at the New York World's Fair; becoming chief cook on the MS Agra, a Swedish vessel bound for the Orient; working as a convoy leader for Red Cross trucks hauling medical supplies from Lashio on the Burma Road; and becoming a United Press war correspondent for China/Burma/India.
Containing a detailed family history, many photographs, and copies of Albert's publications, this biography tells the story of a man who applied his remarkable talents to help the Ravenholt family escape poverty; a man who guided, intervened, and supported the developmental activities of his siblings.