This work brings together, in a condensed format, a broad selection of over 2,300 prominent Americans whose ancestors were of German-speaking origin. For the benefit of the reader, each of these distinguished citizens has been categorized according to his or her contributions and placed into thirteen user-friendly directories, namely: Artistic Talents; Sporting Personalities and Brewers; Clergy; Educators, Scholars and Historians; Engineers, Inventors, Bridge-Builders and Tinkerers; Entertainment World; High Finance and Big Business; Government; Medical Sciences; World of Music; Printing and Publishing World; Natural Sciences; and, Men and Women at War. A typical entry includes, when available, the full name, birth and death dates, and which generation of the family in America that individual represented. Oftentimes the entries will include the stage-name or the original spelling of the surname if the name had been changed in America. Each table is preceded by text which attempts to place each occupational category into an historic context. Selective profiles of representative individuals citing specific achievements in their respective fields are included as well. In the introduction, entitled "Broadly Speaking, Just Who Were the German-Americans," the author examines the data from the thirteen directories in great detail. For example, there are tables dividing the immigrants into areas of origin, and tables exploring dates of immigration. The introduction also attempts to help the reader bridge the linguistic barriers created when reverting American names back to the original German. To this end he has created seven basic rules of name recognition, and has also provided a table listing the twenty-five most common German names and their American English equivalents. The appendices include an abridged glossary of European localities, an every-name index, and three separate bibliographies. Also included is an abridged list of contemporary German-American organizations operating both here and abroad.
