The Crown Family Saga

The Crown Family Saga follows a German-American family in Chicago as immigration, industrial wealth and new forms of entertainment transform the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. Beginning with young Pauli Kroner’s arrival from Berlin, the novels explore the household of brewery magnate Joe Crown and the competing ambitions of relatives who do not accept the roles assigned to them.

Across Homeland and American Dreams, the Crowns encounter the Pullman Strike, early motion pictures, automobile racing, the Mexican Revolution and the First World War. The two novels combine family conflict with a wider history of labour, technology, mass culture and the difficult process by which immigrants and their children define themselves as Americans.