Louie Fleischman was part of that great influx of immigrants who entered the country during the first decade of this century.

He was one of approximately two million Jews who had left Europe since 1880. Irving Howe's World of Our Fathers is a fascinating history of these people and their customs.

Most of them, like the Fleischmans, came from eastern Europe. Once outside of the shtetls of Russia, they tended to be less orthodox in their religious beliefs. Readers will have noticed that Sid Fleischman never mentions religion. Howe's book stresses the cultural and political issues which most concerned these people.