Coming Home to South Omaha

In 1883, a young Irishwoman named Nellie McAuliffe ascended from the belly of a steamship in Boston Harbor and took her first steps in America. Leaving behind abject poverty, she had bravely set out for Nebraska, where she would meet and marry an industrious Scotsman, William Kinnear. They put down roots in the heart of South Omaha's booming Stockyards. In this family memoir, author David J. Krajicek uses interviews and American and European records to explore the lives of his maternal ancestors, weaving rich stories about his colorful kin and the gritty places they lived, including South Omaha's smudgy meatpacking district and the greasy railyards across the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where his people inhabited shacks on the wrong side of the tracks. As with his earlier memoir, Dear Mama, Krajicek uses a discerning eye and vivid storytelling to breathe life into his family's triumphs, tragedies, and quirks.