"Max Krueger came to Texas from Germany in 1868, a penniless, delicate boy of sixteen. By the time he wrote his memoirs at the age of seventy-four, he had seen the state transformed from a harsh frontier to an industrialized society and had twice made his fortune in his adopted land. ... Though he was certainly too successful to be typical, Krueger's life as recorded here reflects in ... detail the era of which he was a part and represents, twice over, the fulfillment of the American dream"--
