German Texans in the “Dos Gringos” Story

Beautiful Pauline in El Paso, Texas, is the love interest of Arthur, the immigrant Norwegian mechanical expert who in “Dos Gringos” risks his life to raise a few dollars to buy a wedding ring. He volunteers, with his Irish partner, in the midst of The Mexican Revolution, to fix a gold mine in that warring country. Pauline comes from a German Texas family.

The history of the German immigration into Texas is a fascinating story. They came during the mid 19^th century for various reasons, mainly to escape the wars between Germany and France, and to find a new life. They settled mainly as farmers and small businessmen in their settlements, mainly around San Antonio and Austin, which have later produced some notable leaders, like Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, of Fredericksburg, who led the U.S. Navy in the Pacific in World War II.  New Braunfels, Schulenburg,  Boerne, are a few of the many other German Texas towns.

The immigrants were of all faiths, but mainly Catholics and Lutherans. But there were also Jews and these German Texas Jews and their major El Paso hardware store figure largely in the “Dos Gringos” story.  

The Pauline Müller character is based on my mother who came from a line of Germans, originally from Alsace and the Rhine Valley, ranging back to the 1600s. Family names included Keller, Fest, Curlin, Bihl, and others.  In reading “Dos Gringos” you learn a little European/American immigration history, too.

Enjoy.

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.

Mexican Revolution Centenary

The story of “Dos Gringos” takes place in August, 1916 in the midst of The Mexican Revolution. The Revolution began on November 20, 1910 and El Paso and Ciudad Juarez were strategic locations in that civil war which lasted a decade into the 1920s.  November 20, 2010 is the official centennial date.  Many affairs will take place in El Paso about then.  The El Paso Public Library will sponsor a weeklong event the last month of October and I have been invited to attend, to discuss “Dos Gringos” and sign books, etc. Other events are scheduled about that time and I am working on a schedule.

I remember my Norwegian grandmother telling me of a cannonball landing in her El Paso front yard, presumably from one of Pancho Villa’s attacks on Juarez—or even El Paso. Many of the places in El Paso now in the history books were common to me as a teen, but now I know why. It has been quite an education writing this book supporting my father’s tale and I am happy to meet old friends and make new ones. I am looking forward to the October visits to my old home town.

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.

The El Paso Times reports on “Dos Gringos”

Ramón Rentería of  The  El Paso Times wrote: “Fred R. Andresen recounts the early life of his Norwegian immigrant father in “Dos Gringos,” an action-adventure novella set in El Paso and the ore-rich mountains of Chihuahua in 1916, as the Mexican Revolution still flared.”

Renteria summarized, “… a penniless Norwegian and an Irish drifter meet in an El Paso bar, where a Pittsburgh con man hires them to fix a gold mine in Mexico. Andresen’s easy, quick read also touches on other historical aspects of intrigue during the Revolution: spies, gunrunners, and Germans in Mexico determined to try to keep the United States out of World War I.”

“Andresen, an international businessman was born and raised in El Paso. He grew up in…a brick house in the desert north of El Paso, where his father worked for many years as an expert machinist with El Paso Natural Gas Co.”

His first book, “Walking on Ice: An American Businessman in Russia,” a collection of essays based on six years he spent working in Russia, was widely praised.

 For the whole article please see http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_15285818?IADID=Search-www.elpasotimes.com-www.elpasotimes.com

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.

“The Zimmermann Telegram” and The Mexican Revolution

 One of my favorite books is Barbara Tuchman’s “The Zimmermann Telegram,” about Kaiser Germany’s wild attempt to keep America out of World War I. The Americans were quite happy with their isolation from all that death and destruction in Europe. But, we were shipping guns and supplies to England and the Kaiser didn’t want to pull America into the war by torpedoing one of our ships. So Zimmermann, the Foreign Secretary for the German Empire, sent a telegram to the German Ambassador in Mexico City, via Washington, to offer the President of Mexico that if they sided with Germany, when the war was over, Germany winning of course, they would help Mexico regain Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

Those wily Brits in the famous Room 40 intercepted the cable, broke the code, and told the Americans. For the Germans, as is often the case in the affairs of men, it achieved just the opposite of its intended purpose. Even before this strategic event in January, 1917, Germany was financing the guns being supplied to both sides of the Revolution. Much of those guns and ammunition came from a big hardware wholesaler in El Paso, Krakauer, Zork, and Moye which figures into my book “Dos Gringos,” as does the black suited man who traveled about Mexico delivering the arms to both the Federáles and Pancho Villa. That man was my grandfather, for whom I am named. Read “Dos Gringos” for more of the story, and read Barbara Tuchman’s book, “The Zimmermann Telegram.” Trust me.

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.

Would you like to have a personal reading? About “Dos Gringos?”

Last week I had my first “reading” of “Dos Gringos” for a living room full of intelligent people who had been told I had something to talk about. They apparently were not disappointed, but also I enjoyed the opportunity to share and to explain the thinking behind the story. For the reading from “Dos Gringos” I chose portions that underlined the vast differences between the main characters. I started by summarizing the chaotic world of 1916 beyond the Mexican Revolution.

 It would be hard to get two immigrants more unlike that of a Norwegian and an Irishman. So I underlined how those differences were overcome by the unfolding and threatening events. Then I mentioned Carlos, the Mexican boy who so identified with the ideals of the revolution and the developed bond between the boy and the Irishman. I also gave background on the under-story of the German attempts to keep America distracted and out of the war by selling guns to both sides in the Mexican war.

Everyone seemed to enjoy it and they bought many books, which I signed. The evening was enjoyable with yummy deserts and hot Mexican chocolate and good conversation. There were about thirty-five people there. I would be happy to do reading and book signings in other venues. The most convenient of course would be Southern California where I live.

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.

Is “Dos Gringos” for the kids?

It looks that way, I am happy to say. For a grade-school trip to Montreal, my son was in charge of five boys, including his 11-year old son, sleeping in one room. You can imagine what a challenge that would be. To calm them down he began to read my book, “Dos Gringos” and they all got very involved in it.  One evening my son had to leave the boys on their own and when he returned, they were reading the book and finished it during their trip. I have heard other raves about how the young have liked the book. I never thought of it for the young, but am so happy to see it has an appeal that holds the attention of those readers. They all tell me it’s a good story. Well, of course it is.

Buy a copy of “Dos Gringos”  here.