An adventurous young man immigrates to America at a time of profound turbulence and danger in this "superb [and] utterly convincing" historical novel (William Dietrich, Pulitzer Prize–winning author).

In mid-1800s, Michael Harm is a Bavarian farmer's son who dreams of excitement and freedom in America—like the story in his favorite novel, The Last of the Mohicans. When a relative in Cleveland, Ohio, sends word offering a blacksmithing apprenticeship, Michael begs for the opportunity. After leaving his family behind for the new world, Michael is soon confronted by riots in New York, anti-immigrant bigotry in Cleveland, and his uncle, a cruel blacksmith master.

Michael struggles through his indentured service, and receives his freedom just as war threatens to destroy the country he now calls home. Yet it is not the Civil War, but rather Cleveland's post-war Gilded Age that forces Michael to face his greatest challenge—an accelerating industrial age destined to wipe out his livelihood forever.

Populated by characters both historical and invented, The Last of the Blacksmiths is a tale of the disruption and dispersal of an immigrant family, the twilight of the artisan crafts, and the efforts of each generation to shape its destiny.