Cowboy from Prague: An Immigrant's Pursuit of the American Dream

“Charles Ota Heller’s newest memoir, Cowboy from Prague, is a gripping and hauntingly

beautiful exploration… required reading for a generation that often forgets that the struggle is the

most important part of the journey.”

--Major General (Res.) Doron Almog, Israel Prize Laureate


From the author of the acclaimed memoir, Prague: My Long Journey Home, comes an inspiring account of a refugee who boarded a ship toward hope—toward the United States—where he began a pursuit of the American Dream.


After losing 25 members of their family in the Holocaust, the author and his parents escape a brutal Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, transforming themselves in a single day from one of their native country’s wealthiest families to stateless refugees with all their assets contained in three suitcases. Young Charlie’s father orders him to speak English without an accent and to become a “100% American.” His obedient son complies and, despite struggles with anti-immigrant prejudice and the discovery that America is not the perfect nation he had imagined, Charlie succeeds beyond even his own dreams.


His struggles and triumphs—as a student, athlete, engineer, academic, entrepreneur, investor, author, and family man—serve as a reminder that America is still the land of opportunity, one that beckons to those looking for a better life. Cowboy from Prague is a tender, enthralling, compelling, and powerful story that will resonate with all Americans who, together, make up a nation unique in the world—a nation of immigrants.