{"product_id":"9781631010347","title":"The Story of My Life","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn engaging tale of life as an immigrant in Cleveland during the post–Civil War era and early twentieth century\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Story of My Life,\u003c\/em\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eVlchek 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.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eVlchek’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.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eReaders interested in immigration history as well as the history of Cleveland will enjoy this fascinating autobiography.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Kent State University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47134800871664,"sku":"9781631010347","price":28.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781631010347_p0.jpg?v=1763671417","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781631010347","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}