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The free man,

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Henry Free, they called him now, or Frey in the dialect; and they knew him well in all the Pennsylvania land and his own Palatine fellow countrymen had settled. They had even sent him to Washington. Captain Free, they said, when they thought how he had fought for the freedom of the colonies a year before the Declaration of Independence. But few of them remembered that he had been Henner Dellicker in the old country, where he was born beside the Neckar; or the tale of his voyage to the new land in the crowded and starved emigrant ship; or his indentured service in the rich Bayley house in Philadelphia; or of the cruel dicipline that Miss Amity visited upon him; or how he fled the King's jailers to the wild frontier, and returned later to settle his accounts with Miss Amity in a way he had not expected.

In The Free Man, Conrad Richter has written of those early Americans who were among his own forbears - the sturdy, courageous, hard-working, liberty-loving Palatine Germans who with the Alsatians and Swiss came to farm Pennsylvania and stayed to win their collective freedom on the battlefields of the Revolution.

"The Free Man," is not Conrad Richter's best work of historical fiction, but it's better by far than most other works in the same genre. It's the story of Henner Dellicker, a German immigrant, who comes to America as an indentured servant, escapes, prospers as a trader, then distinguishes himself during the American Revolution on the side of the colonists. At the beginning of the novel, Dellicker is a well-respected merchant,freedom fighter and retired statesman, enjoying his golden years. For a local historian, he recalls his arrival to the colonies and how he is tricked into indentured servitude. The ensuing story of Dellicker's life of virtual slavery and his subsequent escape correct an overlooked chapter in the development of our country: the injustices of indentured servitude. Dellicker's service as a military leader and peacetime politician also highlights the contributions of the Pennsylvania Dutch to the USA's development as a strong nation.

While the novel contains Richter's typical passion for accuracy in historical detail and in the spoken language of the early Americans, it does lack the powerful plotting that exists in his other novels. Dellicker's later marriage to the woman who purchased his contract seems rather rushed and tacked on, as if to satisfy the need for a romantic subplot.

This aside, "The Free Man" uses its historic setting to correct several ommissions in popular history of the contributions of German settlers, and in the contradictions of the indentured servitude system. Stephanie Grauman Wolf, in her afterword, suggests Richter hoped to ease mistrust and hostility directed towards German-Americans during World War II (when this was written) by demonstrating their deep roots in our country's history. Despite this rather strained moral, this book is at its best when it depicts how one determined person, regardless of country of origin, can make a better life for him- or herself in a country filled with promise, and help build that country into a strong nation. In the end, it's not important what country Dellicker is from, but rather what his immigration and subsequent success represent: that the USA was built by immigrants looking for a better life for themselves.

This book arrived four days after I ordered it. It is in great shape. Since I didn't know this title was available in paperback, I was very pleased.

it has been awhile since i read this one. it made a very strong impression though. i do agree that the end is a little "tacked on" but i found it enjoyable nonetheless