A lively memoir of life as a new American and how the feeling of being new lasts longer than most might expect
Alex Krieger fondly recounts his experience as an immigrant who not only embraced America and all her opportunities but strived to make the most of them through a career in design and urban planning. Greenhorn: Episodes in an Immigrant’s Life uses the idea of a greenhorn—slang for newcomer—as a point of pride, and it’s easy to see why.
As the child and grandchild of Holocaust survivors, Krieger is keenly aware of the new start that coming to the United States in 1960 gave him. He found a path to academic and professional success through architecture, design, and urban planning. Later, his accomplishments earned him national appointments and nominations. Still, Krieger never shook that feeling of being a newcomer, like he had to prove he was worthy of becoming an American.
Krieger’s wide-ranging chapters are a highlight reel that showcase his hard work, perseverance, and confidence in the human spirit. From professor emeritus at Harvard Graduate School of Design and ownership of his own design studio through participation in Boston’s Big Dig and The Freedom Trail, the Leventhal Map and Education Center, Washington, D.C.’s Commission of Fine Arts, and Shanghai’s Bund, Krieger is ever an optimist when it comes to uplifting people’s everyday experiences and their connections with the world around them through design.
One particularly moving chapter of Greenhorn recounts his role in developing the New England Holocaust Memorial. The work gave Krieger a closer look at his family’s ordeal at Nazi concentration camps—topics his parents and grandmother didn’t often speak about—and it is truly moving. Krieger tenderly describes the memorial’s features in a way that inspires a desire to visit it.
Throughout the book, Krieger makes easy diversions into commentary on current events. He believes we can find common ground and renewed focus on solving problems, like notable Americans of the past who faced problems head-on. He is clear-eyed in describing where we have lived up to our ideals and where we have not in a way that encourages action over regret. He talks about the immigrant experience and how it is simultaneously universal and personal. Even across cultures, Krieger sees similarities between his family’s relocation and adjustment to a new culture and that of Chinese families moving from rural villages to urban centers, hoping for better opportunities after working on the Bund improvement project.
Krieger’s photographs enliven the book, making it more personal, as does his friendly, conversational writing style. It is a pleasure to watch his success story play out against the backdrop of American history. He is generous with reflections on his early school days and his humorous anecdotes about trying new foods while in China on business. Plentiful endnotes offer a roadmap for further research. But through it all, Krieger clearly doesn’t want to rest on his success. He challenges us to see possibilities in the future, a refreshing change from much of the media we’re exposed to these days.
Whether you choose to read Greenhorn alone or share it with a book group, it’s hard not to feel a resurgence of pride and determination to be the Americans that Krieger believes we can be.
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