The Texas Hill Country and throughout Texas 1865 - 1898 . . . After the Civil War, the Engelbachs of Fredericksburg, Texas, must begin their lives again. Although they quickly deal with the material damage, several years are needed for the Engelbachs and their neighbors of German origin to overcome the loss of trust in their new homeland of Texas, where they have been branded as traitors and face persecution. However, new challenges soon await them. In the period of the Wild West, constant lawlessness threatens the lives and existence of the German settlers. Their dreams for a better life and prosperity seem to fade away. In addition, as life in Germany improves after 1871, many immigrants of German origin long to return to their former homeland. After they finally overcome the difficult times of Reconstruction, living conditions also improve in Texas. Many events such as cattle drives, the end of the Indian troubles, and the development of the oil industry lead to economic and social success. Many former German settlers find prosperity, becoming wealthy Texans. In a very specific - Texan - way, the Engelbachs and other former German immigrants combine the traditional skills they brought with them from Germany with the capitalistic influences of a new age in the United States at the turn of the century. Their children, born into this new world, have less difficulty in adapting to this way of life ... Barbara Ortwein continues the thrilling story of her fictional Engelbach family and many historic figures of German origin in the third and final volume of her Texas saga, At Journey's End: Texans Forever! This sequel to In The Heart Of Texas, But Not Yet At Home begins during the turmoil after the Civil War, as the traumatized citizens of the Texas Hill Country face many difficulties. As time passes, the German Texans overcome numerous threats and challenges, as many of their children find new homes in other parts of Texas and the United States. Using her extensive research in Germany, Texas, and the former Indian Territory that is now Oklahoma, Barbara Ortwein demonstrates through her novel how the German settlers finally became Texans, yet retained their distinctive character. ------------ Her second and third historical novels In The Heart Of Texas But Not Yet At Home and At Journey's End: Texans Forever! are continuations of her first book with the same fictional main characters (Johann Engelbach and his family) who are interacting with many real immigrants of German descent mainly in the Texas Hill Country and anywhere in the United States. By her thrilling plot in her third book Barbara Ortwein documents the difficulties and problems of the German- Texans after the Civil War in a lawless land where Indians as well as criminals threaten their lifes as never before. Once more again her Texan friend and colleague Pamela Phillips translated her third German book Am Ende des Weges: Texaner für immer! from German into English. Pamela Phillip had worked many years as a German and English teacher in Boswell High School in Saginaw, Fort Forth, Winterberg's exchange school in Texas. Already praised by critics for her previous translation of Deep In The Heart Of Texas But Not Yet At Home, also in this translation she tried to stick to the special literary quality of the German version. ----------------- Barbara Ortwein was born and raised in Germany, near Muenster in Westphalia. For more than 30 years she has lived and worked in Winterberg, near the border of Hesse and North Rhine Westphalia. As a German and music teacher in the high school there, she became the leader of a German Texan School Exchange Program and, while visiting Texas for the first time with students in 2000, she realized the historical connection between their German region and the Texas Hill Country with its inhabitants of German descent. In the following years she began research in G ukryj opis