Second Fatherland: The Life and Fortunes of a German Immigrant

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.

Krueger vividly recalls the violence—the murderous “Helena duel,” brutal Indian massacres, and his own narrow escape in a cattleman’s war—and also the splendor and abundance of an unspoiled land, the thrill of a ...