Not on the Mayflower

Not on the Mayflower tells about the life of Dietrich W. Botstiber in Austria during the first part of the twentieth century. He describes an Austria of great beauty and bounty that, over those years, diminished in size, culture, wealth and prestige, due in large part to the breakup of the Dual Habsburg Empire, the 1938 Anschluss and the ensuing war. Botstiber witnessed the most unsettling times in Austrian history, and he recounts his own unhappiness in a country that offered him little opportunity to apply his technical skills and interests.

Dietrich Botstiber believed that Americans did not fully appreciate the Austrian predicament leading up to World War II. His autobiography goes a long way toward imparting an understanding of the difficult social and economic conditions in Austria during this period. It also tells a story about the cultural life in Vienna during the early decades of the twentieth century, and about the lives of immigrants to the United States who managed to make significant contributions to their adopted country.