In the mid-19th century, millions of Europeans, particularly from the German-speaking regions, dreamed of emigrating to the United States. But they could only dream of what it would be like to emigrate to America, because there were no photographs or movies at the time, and so their dreams were often unrealistic and based on the wondrous and often fantastical tales told to them by land agents and ship companies.

Friedrich Gerstäcker, a German adventurer and prolific novelist who was born in Hamburg in 1816, began traveling in his early 20s and made his first trip to North America in 1837. He spent 6 years moving about the United States (spending time in Arkansas in particular), supporting himself with odd jobs along the way, and writing home about his adventures in the New World. He returned home in 1843 and using his experiences in America, published his first novel in 1845.

During this time he found himself besieged by questions from people who wanted to know what life was like in America, in particular from those people who wanted to emigrate to the United States. Concerned that so many of the things Europeans heard about America were inaccurate and idealistic, he decided to write a practical guidebook for those who wanted to emigrate by presenting a realistic picture of what they could expect in the New World, answering questions ranging from the simply curious (What is seasickness?) to the practical (How do I keep from being swindled?).

Gerstäcker published "Wie ist es denn nun eigentlich in Amerika? Eine kurze Schilderung dessen, was der Auswanderer in Nordamerika zu tun und dafür zu hoffen und zu erwarten hat" in 1849. Gerstäcker would travel again to America, and also to South America, the South Pacific, and even Australia, and continue to write both travel observations and novels. He died in Germany in 1872.