Book Description

Written by eminent German-American historian Rudolf Cronau, this book is a concise survey of German-American achievements in America based on his previous work, a comprehensive German-language history. Drei Jahrhunderte deutschen Lebens in Amerika (1909). German Achievements in America, originally published in 1916, is a richly illustrated English-language compendium intended to illuminate the basic dates, facts, and events in German-American history. Then, as now, it provides a convenient introduction to German-American history, from the beginnings to the First World War. There are many chapters discussing in detail the German-American contributions to politics, agriculture, industry, commerce, physical education, science, publishing, literature, music and arts. Given the author's education at the art academy in Düsseldorf, this work is especially good in the insight it brings to the arts, music and literature of German-Americans. This book also contains one of the first chapters on the topic of German-American women. Of special interest, given the time when the book was written (World War I), is the final chapter entitled "The Future Mission of the German Element in America." This basic history has been edited and provided with a new introduction and a selective bibliography by Dr. Don Heinrich Tolzmann, an internationally recognized scholar in the field of German-American Studies.