Joe Magarac and His USA Citizen Papers

Joe Magarac and His USA Citizen Papers is a novel for children by the American writer Irwin Shapiro (1911–1981) set in the steel valley of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It tells the story of the "legendary" steelworker Joe Magarac, who when a mill boss tells him that he needs $1,000 to get his American citizenship papers, goes on a working spree to earn the money. Magarac gets angry, however, when a U.S. Congressman tells him to go back to the Old Country where he came from. Magarac rips up rails and knocks down buildings and in a climatic rage in the manner of King Kong scales the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.