Long before feminism became a potent force in our time, Ruth Gruber was already blazing a trail for later generations of women. Now in paperback for the first time, this captivating memoir covers the first twenty-five years of an inspiring life, including these historic moments: Gruber's unprecedented academic career, which reached its zenith in 1932, when at twenty she became the world's youngest Ph.D. as a visiting American student at Cologne University, her return to Nazi Germany in 1935, and the rallies she attended where Hitler inveighed against "international Jews" like her; and her first stint as a foreign correspondent, when she became the only journalist to report from the Soviet Arctic, traveled in open cockpit seaplanes, met utopians who extolled Stalin's system, and gulag inmates who told her the bitter truth about his terrible schemes. Gruber writes with warmth, compassion, and humor, offering a life story that will be long remembered by all history lovers, adventurers, and women and men of all ages. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly Gruber ( Israel Today ), born in 1911, is not a household name despite her having written 13 books and serving as a foreign correspondent during the 1930s in countless dangerous locales. This memoir is beautifully crafted, covering her inner life sensitively as well as educating readers about what it was like to grow up Jewish in a Brooklyn "shtetl" in the early part of the century; to enter New York University as a 15-year-old freshman; to hitchhike to the University of Wisconsin to begin a master's degree in German; to study in Germany at the time of Hitler's ascension; and to explore Europe and the Soviet Arctic as a New York Herald Tribune journalist. Gruber changes some names for the sake of privacy, devaluing the book somewhat as a historical document. That reservation aside, this volume recalling her first 25 years is one of the most evocative journalistic autobiographies to appear. Readers will hope to see the rest of her story published. Author tour. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Now close to 80, Gruber reminisces about the exciting experiences of her young adult years. Raised in the Jewish shtetl atmosphere of Brooklyn in the years around World War I, she sought to escape its intellectually stifling environment. Her academic brilliance gained her admission to Mt. Holyoke, University of Wisconsin, and subsequent funding for doctoral studies in Germany in 1931. She writes poignantly of falling in love with a German student while being acutely conscious of the pervasive anti-Semitism and the escalating acts of violence against Jews. In 1935, still only 24, she was the first American to secure authorization to travel in Siberia, and she reported her observations for the Herald Tribune. Her success in pursuing career objectives was quite unusual for that time. Unfortunately, her writing does not convey the drama and tension of bearing witness to truly world shaking events. - Carol R. Glatt, VA Medical Ctr . , Philadelphia Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.