The Life of a Greek American

About the Book

This biography is more about the people who have surrounded me than about myself. With this biography, I intend to show all the following: How my environment affected me as a Greek American; the interplay I had with my parents who had come from Greece; my parents’ faith and how it influenced me; the difficulties Greek immigrants had and how they overcame them; the strong belief a Greek immigrant had for education and how it impelled him to drive his children to get a good education; the way immigrants entertained themselves with home celebrations, dances, and picnics; and the relationship Greek Americans had with one another. In summary, the purpose of this biography is to show how Greek culture was established within American culture and was impressed upon me. This book is built around a thread that traces the development of the life of the immigrants in America. Do not look in it for the development of my life, but rather look in it to see the development of the Antonakos family in America. Look at the life of the Antonakoses in Mani, their immigration to America, and their progress in America. Look at their material development and how they used it to obtain higher education for their children. Then note how, through the use of this education, they obtained good positions in the professional world. It is fervently hoped that all immigrants in America from all nations of the world will establish their culture in America as the ones who had come here earlier. The greatness of America will continue to remain as long as this peaceful blending of cultures continues to occur. This biography is written purely chronologically. The persons, places, and events are recorded chronologically in my story as they actually occurred in my life. Accept them as they are recorded, and don’t attempt to group different parts of my story together in any unique way.

About the Author

John Antonakos is a retired electrical engineer who holds degrees in physics and electrical engineering. He was employed as an electrical engineer for over forty years, thirty-two of which were with the United States Army at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J. He has always been interested in history, biography, language and philosophy, and has read widely in these fields. Being of Greek background, he is especially interested in exploring his roots. Because of these interests he has written the following books: Noted Greeks of Antiquity, Noted Greeks of the Middle Ages, The Greek American Community of Essex County, N.J., The Maniates of Newark, N.J., The Greek Handbook, A Compendium of World Classical Literature, A Proposed International Alphabet, English Spelling and Pronunciation Guide, and Life’s Objective.