# A Good American

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/alex-george/a-good-american/9781905490936

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![A Good American](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin/alex-george/a-good-american_978-19-0549-093-6-8a0d027b.jpg?v=2026-09-21%2004%3A53%3A27)

- Book: [A Good American](https://www.bookquiver.com/alex-george/a-good-american) ([A Good American.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/alex-george/a-good-american.md))
- Authors: [Alex George](https://www.bookquiver.com/alex-george)
- Publisher: Penguin
- ISBN: 978-19-0549-093-6
- Pages: 400
- Published: 2013-08-01
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

This is the story of the Meisenheimer family, told by James, a third-generation American living in Beatrice, Missouri. It's where his German grandparents - Frederick and Jette - found themselves after journeying across the turbulent Atlantic, fording the flood-swollen Mississippi, and being brought to a sudden halt by the broken waters of the pregnant Jette. A Good American tells of Jette's dogged determination to feed a town sauerkraut and soul food; the loves and losses of her children, Joseph and Rosa; and the precocious voices of James and his brothers, sometimes raised in perfect harmony . . . sometimes in discord. But above all, A Good American is about the music in Frederick's heart, a song that began as an aria, was jazzed by ragtime, and became an anthem of love for his adopted country that the family still hears to this day.