[1] Plans to publish the book in 1950 were rejected by the communist censors, with the comment that it was "educationally harmful, with racist overtones, glorifying the United States"; however, it was approved for publication four years afterward.
He works on coffee plantations in Brazil, where he is exploited, escapes through the jungle to the United States, fights bandits, works on the railways, in hotels, and in factories, joins the American army, participates in the suppression of the last Native American uprising, and eventually gains wealth and a wife, and becomes the owner of a plantation in California.
"[5][6] Pedagogue Łukasz Kurdybacha [pl], in his Historia wychowania (History of Education) from 1968, praised the book, writing that it is one of the "novels of enduring value", presenting "vital ideas of national liberation and the wandering fate of emigrants.
"[10] In 1973, Krystyna Kuliczkowska [pl] wrote that the book refers to themes of Poles in exile and the fight for national liberation, "touching many important social problems, indicating the ambition to address the broader issues relevant to the era."
"[11] Earlier, she had written that the book contains "sharp social criticism", specifically drawing attention to the fact that its protagonist "is a member of the multi-million army of Chicago's unemployed, brutally exploited by factory owners during the seasonal work period.