The Harness Maker's Dream; Nathan Kallison And The Rise Of South Texas

Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 2013. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. v, [1], 337, [1] pages. Illustrations. Author's Note. Chronology. Notes. Selected Bibliography. Index. Two page corners creased, Author sentiment. Genealogy chart endpapers. Inscribed by the author on the title page. Inscription reads To Michael Dunn My Fellow Texan Nick Kotz. This work was a joint project of the Center for Texas Studies at TCU and TCU press. Nathan K. "Nick" Kotz (September 16, 1932 - April 26, 2020) was an American journalist, author, and historian. His most recent book, The Harness Makers Dream: Nathan Kallison and the Rise of South Texas, tells the story of Ukrainian immigrant Nathan Kallison's journey to the United States. He is best known for his 2005 book Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws that Changed America, chronicling the roles of US President Lyndon B. Johnson and Martin Luther King Jr. in the passage of the 1964, 1965, and 1968 civil rights laws. Kotz won a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1968 for his reporting of unsanitary conditions in many meat packing plants, which helped ensure the passage of the Wholesome Meat Act. Kotz's other books include A Passion For Equality: George Wiley and the Movement (with Mary Lynn Kotz); Let Them Eat Promises: The Politics of Hunger; and The Unions (with Haynes Johnson). Nick Kotz won many of journalism's most important honors, including the Sigma Delta Chi Award, the Raymond Clapper Memorial Award, and the first Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award. His book Wild Blue Yonder: Money, Politics, and the B-1 Bomber won the Olive Branch Award. Kotz traces his grandfather's rise from penniless immigrant to success and prominence. Settling in San Antonio was something of an accident. The Kallisons wanted to escape Chicago's crowded living, unsanitary conditions and harsh weather and took a trip to the West, seeking a more favorable climate; a couple they befriended in Tucson, Ariz., suggested they seek out San Antonio. Soon after arriving in 1899, Nathan Kallison realized that making harnesses, the trade he learned in Russia, was becoming obsolete as cars began to supplant horses. Over time, he transformed a small store into a broader Western goods supply business that flourished for decades. He also bought a ranch and bred prized polled Herefords, while using environmentally advanced techniques to nurture the rain-starved land. Both historical study and ancestral narrative, The Harness Maker's Dream follows the story of Ukrainian immigrant Nathan Kallison's journey to the United States in search of a brighter future. At the turn of the twentieth century, over two million Jews emigrated from Czarist Russia and Eastern Europe to escape anti-Semitic law. Seventeen-year-old Kallison and his brothers were among those brave enough to escape persecution and pursue a life of freedom by leaving their homeland in 1890. Faced with the challenges of learning English and earning wages as a harness maker, Kallison struggles to adapt to his new environment. Kallison moves to San Antonio, Texas, where he finds success by founding one of the largest farm and ranch supply businesses in south Texas and eventually running one of the region's most innovative ranches. Despite enormous changes in environment and lifestyle, Nathan Kallison and his beloved wife Anna manage to maintain their cultural heritage by raising their children in the Jewish faith, teaching them that family values and a strong sense of character are more important than any worldly achievement. The son of Nathan Kallison's daughter Tibe, author Nick Kotz provides a moving account of his ancestors' search for the American dream. Kotz's work has received recognition by the Texas Jewish Historical Society for eloquently depicting the reality of life for Jewish immigrants in Texas during this time and delineating their significant contributions to society. Kotz's insight into the life of this inspiring individual will prompt readers to consider their own connections to America's immigrant past and recognize the beauty of our nation's diverse history.