Joseph Strunka A Ceska Chicago Man'S Tale Of Resilience

The story of Joseph Strunka is a window into the Czech immigrant enclaves of Chicago during the first half of the 1900s. Born in 1910, he grew up in a poor family beset by tragedies. As a child, Joe became independent, finding solace and reward in his work selling newspapers, slotting bowling pins, delivering milk and peddling coal. He came of age during Al Capone's gangster era when the criminal culture of the streets was a powerful influence and rampant thuggery nipped at his heels. Nudged into a union with Rose Mary Fojtik at age 21, the couple struggled with contrasts in their upbringing and focus. In 1932, the Great Depression gripped Chicago neighborhoods hard, "It was really tough. There was no money." Joe proved resilient to decades of hardship and grief, enduring more than most, until a cascade of stressful events crippled his health. Even then, he persevered to find good fortune and an ideology with which he formed a lasting bond. As an ironworker-welder during World War II, Joe's labor provides a glimpse into the important roles that civilians played in the war effort and the personal toll this work took on their families. Late in life, Joe fulfilled a long-held dream and found a conditioned happiness that he summed up as "A pretty fair life."

• | Author: Margaret F. Merritt
• | Publisher: Rds Publications
• | Publication Date: Mar 15, 2023
• | Number of Pages: 124 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Hardcover
• | ISBN-10: 0982839251
• | ISBN-13: 9780982839256