The Life Stories of Undistinguished Americans as Told by Themselves

Hamilton Holt, editor of The Independent, collected these touching autobiographies of ordinary people--new immigrants and sharecroppers, cooks and fishermen, women and men working in sweatshops, in the city, and on the land. First published in 1906, and reissued a decade ago, this new edition of Life Stories of UndistinguishedAmericans is expanded to include lives Holt did not include in his original selection, as well as a new preface by Werner Sollors.

In addition to a career as a newspaper editor, Hamilton Holt was a supporter of Zora Neale Hurston and President of Rollins College., Werner Sollors is Henry B. and Anne M. Cabot Professor of English Literature, Professor of Afro-American Studies, and Chair of the History of American Civilization Program at Harvard University. His books include Beyond Ethnicity and The Invention of Ethnicity.

Introduction Undistinguished Americans Introduction; Chapter 1 The Life Story of a Lithuanian; Chapter 2 The Life Story of a Polish Sweatshop Girl; Chapter 3 The Life Story of an Italian Bootblack; Chapter 4 The Life Story of a Greek Peddler; Chapter 5 The Life Story of a Swedish Farmer; Chapter 6 The Life Story of a French Dressmaker; Chapter 7 The Life Story of a German Nurse Girl; Chapter 8 The Life Story of an Irish Cook; Chapter 9 The Life Story of a Farmer's Wife; Chapter 10 The Life Story of an Itinerant Minister; Chapter 11 The Life Story of a Negro Peon; Chapter 12 The Life Story of an Indian; Chapter 13 The Life Story of an Igorrote Chief; Chapter 14 The Life Story of a Syrian; Chapter 15 The Life Story of a Japanese Servant; Chapter 16 The Life Story of a Chinaman; Chapter 17 The Life Story of a Florida Sponge Fisherman; Chapter 18 The Life Story of a Hungarian Peon; Chapter 19 The Life Story of a Southern White Woman; Chapter 20 The Life Story of a Southern Colored Woman; Chapter 21 A Northern Negro's Autobiography; Chapter 22 Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of a Eurasian, Sui Sin Far; Chapter 23 The Story of Two Moonshiners; Chapter 24 The Experiences of a Chorus Girl; Chapter 25 Autobiography of a Football Player; Chapter 26 The Confessions of a Woman Professor; Chapter 27 The Story of the Waitress;