The free man

The revolutionary patriot known as Henry Free had come to America as the boy Henner Dellicker - and his new life was as different as his name and the childhood he left behind in Germany. He had traveled to colonial Philadelphia in a ship crowded with starving emigrants, only to discover that it was indentured servitude, not freedom, to which he sailed. Conrad Richter's 1943 novel, now restored to print, tells the rousing story of Free's journey, of his time in service, and of his struggle for freedom - his own, and that of the young nation of which he becomes a part. More than the account of one individual, The Free Man is the story of a people and of two times. Like Richter's own forebears, the character of Henry Free is one of the hard-working Palatine Germans who came to farm in Pennsylvania and stayed to fight for liberty on the battlefields of the Revolution. Written at the height of World War II, it is also a book that asserts the patriotism of generations of Americans of German descent. In the process of telling these stories, Richter reveals many details about everyday life in eighteenth-century Philadelphia and highlights the little known part played by the founding fathers of the Pennsylvania Dutch in America's growth to nationhood. This engaging work of historical fiction will be enjoyed by adults and younger readers alike.