Jakob's Story and the American Dream

by Erik Varon

Overview

Winter of 1925 brings nothing but trouble and confusion for Belgian immigrant and American entrepreneur Jakob Schleicher. Seventy-four years old and in ill health, he reflects on his fifty years of living in America. Based on true events, Jakob’s Story and the American Dream weaves myriad moving parts of late nineteenth and early twentieth century U.S. history into this mans’ life story.     

“Every man’s journey is his private literature,” author Aldous Huxley once wrote. Reflecting on everything from his youth spent in Antwerp, Belgium to his quest for the American Dream, Jakob Schleicher penned his private literature into a memoir. As you travel back to America’s Gilded Age and discover Schleicher and his times, you’ll gain insight into the challenges all of us who pursue the American Dream experience.

After all, achieving the American Dream doesn’t always result in receiving exactly what we want. Jakob Schleicher's story is just one example of this hard truth.     

“Anyone who has been an immigrant, has known an immigrant, or who has descended from an immigrant will find a great deal to ponder in Jakob's Story and the American Dream. Erik Varon weaves a compelling story of how Jakob Schleicher, a Belgian-born youth of German ancestry, was transformed into James Schleicher, an American businessman who dreamed of a world in which art and culture would triumph over national division.” —Robert Wojtowicz, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate School and Professor of Art History, Old Dominion University

Product Details

BN ID:	2940154748251
Publisher:	Erik Varon
Publication date:	06/03/2017
Sold by:	Draft2Digital
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

Table of Contents

Introduction

1: A Foreign Time and Place

2: Reminiscences of an Old Man

3: A European Boyhood

4: Liberty Enlightening the World

5: The Otto-Langen Experiment

6: Jakob’s American Dream Begins

7: The Centennial Exhibition of 1876

8: Schleicher, Schumm & Company

9: A Twist of Fate

10: Industrialism, Progressivism and a Brief Retirement

11: The Philadelphia Caramel Company

12: The Three Uninvited Guests

13: The Great War

14: The Lawsuit

15: Jakob’s Declining Years

16: The Clock Winds Down

17: Lewis Mumford’s Closing Thoughts

Selected Bibliography

About the Author

Editorial Reviews

Jacob’s Story, detailing the story of Jakob Schleicher, is a well-written detailed account of his personal and professional journey. His amazing story unfolds in Germany, later emigrating to America where he started the first successful factory building American gas engines, continuing onward with a Philadelphia-based confectionary company. This must-read book from author/historian Erik Varon, magically captures the ups and downs of a creative 19th century entrepreneur experiencing the American Dream. —Wayne Grenning, Chief Engineer, Coolspring Power Museum

“Anyone who has been an immigrant, has known an immigrant, or who has descended from an immigrant will find a great deal to ponder in Jakob's Story and the American Dream. Erik Varon weaves a compelling story of how Jakob Schleicher, a Belgian-born youth of German ancestry, was transformed into James Schleicher, an American businessman who dreamed of a world in which art and culture would triumph over national division.” —Robert Wojtowicz, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate School and Professor of Art History, Old Dominion University

From the Publisher