An engaging tale of life as an immigrant in Cleveland during the post–Civil War era and early twentieth century The Story of My Life; originally published in Czechoslovakia in 1928; is the engaging and informative autobiography of Frank Vlchek; a Czech immigrant who became a successful businessman in Cleveland; Ohio; during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The youngest of fourteen children; Vlchek was born to peasant parents in Budyn; southern Bohemia; in 1871. After attempting a career in blacksmithing in Bohemia; at the age of seventeen he decided to follow his two older sisters to Cleveland; home to America’s second-largest Czech community. Vlchek worked a variety of unsatisfactory jobs during his first years in Cleveland. In 1895 he opened his own smithing operation; which after a long struggle was transformed into a successful corporation that specialized in the manufacture of toolkits for automobiles. His narrative relates tales of labor issues; competitors; mergers and acquisitions; and the successes and travails of his operation. Vlchek was often able to travel home to Czechoslovakia; and during those trips he noted the different cultural and political attitudes that had evolved between Czechs and their Czech American cousins. Vlchek’s memoir provides a rare primary source about Czech immigrants. It also offers insight into a self-made man’s life philosophy; illustrates relations between ethnic groups in Cleveland during the 1880s; and demonstrates the assimilation of a late-nineteenth-century immigrant in America. Readers interested in immigration history as well as the history of Cleveland will enjoy this fascinating autobiography.
#279926 in Books University of South Carolina Press 1991-06-01 1991-06-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x .48 x 5.98l; .78 #File Name: 0872497615184 pages
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