On the Trail of The Immigrant


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.3 stars; 7 reviews)

How did the immigrants come to America? Who were they? What Where did they come from? In this book, Edward Steiner tells of the experiences of immigrants from Hungry, Poland, Scandinavia, Germany, Italy and many other countries as they leave everything and board a boat to an unknown future. Steiner was born to a well-to-do Jewish-Slovak-Hungarian family in a Carpathian village, and was educated in Vienna and Heidelberg and immigrated to the United States in 1886. His later American experiences are quite incredible, precisely because it seems that he made every effort not to miss any of the steps of the immigration experiences; not only the familiar sweatshop saga of his fellow east European Jews, but also metal works in Pittsburgh; mining with Poles in Pennsylvania; cropping for the Amish; being Jailed for months for having been indirectly involved in a strike; getting trapped on a railway bridge as the train was running against him; being brutally mugged in Chicago; being shoved off a cattle train car in Ohio while on his way to becoming a rabbi in the East Coast; and finally, finding a warm Christian home in a small Mid-Western town with a pastor and his wife. Ultimately, in this environment, and under the continuing inspiration of Tolstoy, he became a Christian and a pastor himself, and ever active for progressive causes. This is an important book in the history of immigration. - Summary by Phil chenevert (8 hr 56 min)

Chapters

By Way of Introduction 8:16 Read by Michele Fry
The Beginning of the Trail 19:45 Read by Michele Fry
The Fellowship of the Steerage 24:57 Read by Michele Fry
Land, Ho! 22:07 Read by Michele Fry
At the Gateway 18:55 Read by Michele Fry
“The Man at the Gate” 23:01 Read by Michele Fry
The German in America 24:37 Read by Michele Fry
The Scandinavian Immigrant 18:44 Read by Michele Fry
The Jew in His Old World Home 23:09 Read by Michele Fry
The New Exodus 14:29 Read by Michele Fry
In the Ghettos of New York 34:36 Read by Michele Fry
The Slavs at Home 34:40 Read by Mark Chulsky
The Slavic Invasion 29:42 Read by Mark Chulsky
Drifting with the “Hunkies” 22:18 Read by Mark Chulsky
The Bohemian Immigrant 24:32 Read by Mark Chulsky
Little Hungary 22:51 Read by Soumen Barua
The Italian at Home 14:55 Read by Michele Fry
The Italian in America 27:48 Read by Michele Fry
Where Greek Meets Greek 16:46 Read by Soumen Barua
The New American and the New Problem 29:22 Read by Soumen Barua
The New American and Old Problems 20:06 Read by Soumen Barua
Religion and Politics 15:59 Read by Denise Nordell
Birds of Passage 19:12 Read by Mike Pelton
In the Second Cabin 18:23 Read by Mike Pelton
Au Revoir 7:36 Read by Michele Fry

Reviews

Interesting Look Back at Immigrants in early 1900s.


(4 stars)

What were immigrants to the US like, and how did their early lives evolve? This author presents his views of various groups from ten crossings, and several instances of following up with some of them. His reports concur with general beliefs, and are balanced as to the good, bad, and changes wrought by the experiences of both immigrant and US by our forebears. Sad at times?, occasionally humorous, and left me in awe of the crazy courage of those who come to build new lives in a new and unknown country. Two readers, both clear though the man in the Slavic chapters has a slight accent...seemed appropriate for this topic. Good and satisfying read. Thank you to LibreVox, readers, and to all our great immigrants!

Virtual Traveler


(5 stars)

This account has been a good companion while researching several of my family genealogies. The straight forward observations and interaction of the author serves to transport the reader there with the passengers. The faded, yellowed and wrinkled archived documents become the souls of people of whom I can embrace even if they are not my relatives.

Fascinating, Epic


(5 stars)

This is a story that needed telling, and needs listening to! A treasure of information about who built America, and an answer to those who complain that things have never been worse than today, etc., etc. 5 stars for the author, the story, and for the readers who did a wonderful job.

Very humanly educational


(5 stars)

This should be required reading for High School students, because it is educational and historical. I really enjoyed listening to it and learned a great deal. Many thanks to the readers!


(3 stars)

more than half of the anecdotes explained were insightful, less than half were ignorant or troubling (mostly anti-catholic and anti- polish)... hence the three out of 5 stars.