Abraham Cahan
This classic account of the dark side of the immigration experience was the first book published by Abraham Cahan, who himself immigrated to the United States from Lithuania in early adulthood. Protagonist Jake Podkovnik is eager to shed all traces of his upbringing and ethnicity and embrace the American dream—but his transformation has negative consequences that ripple further than anyone could have expected.
Abraham Cahan immigrated to the United States from Lithuania at the age of 21, and he enthusiastically adopted New York City as his hometown. In this charming collection of short stories, alternately humorous and gritty, the kaleidoscope of experiences of recent immigrants to the big city are chronicled in engrossing detail.
Lithuanian-born author, journalist, and activist Abraham Cahan made a name for himself first with his investigative journalism and later with his fiction, much of which focused on the immigrant experience in America and specifically New York City. In The White Terror and the Red, however, the action unspools against the dramatic backdrop of the Russia's revolutionary struggles.