Overview

Of - A tale about how Peter Mueller came to be is crisply written, fast-moving historical fiction that sprinkles its characters into a backdrop of international events over a period of roughly 100 years.

Beginning in 1870 in Europe, the book touches upon three wars and conveys the travails of poor Hungarian and German immigrants arriving in America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Settings include World War One bomber runs over the Italian Alps, the horse farms of Kentucky and the coal mines of Ohio.

Themes and Style

Of poignantly transmits the harshness and poverty that many immigrants encountered upon arriving in America during that period. Characters' sparse, bleak environments are leavened by frequent injections of humor that help to keep the reader engaged. Of relies heavily upon dialogue between characters, including those who don't speak English very well.

Conclusion

All of this is tidily connected, even the final chapter that finds the book's namesake physically ejected from a beer festival in France the day that Richard Nixon resigned from office.