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A Jewish immigrant from Romania, M.E. (Marcus Eli) Ravage (1884-1965) wrote An American in the Making in party according to the book's introduction, as a response to the fact "that Americans have forgotten America." Americans tended to greet immigrants either with hostility or derision, and seemed to have lost sight of "the pathos and romance" behind the story of many immigrants. He longed, as he wrote, to "show you America as we of the oppressed peoples see it! "

Ravage's was a story common to many immigrants from Romania and elsewhere, a story of hopes and sacrifices and odd jobs. He had worked in the Battery, an area along the southern tip of Manhattan, and served as a tap-boy—that is, the operator of a beer tap in a bar room. His places of employment had included a sweat-shop, a factory where immigrants toiled for long hours at low wages. He also became involved in political agitation as an anarchist....