Ahead of Time: My Early Years as a Foreign Correspondent [Paperback]

Ruth Gruber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0786708360 | ISBN-13: 978-0786708369

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.

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 Gruber changes some names for the sake of privacy, devaluing the book somewhat as a historical document.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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf (February 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786708360
• ISBN-13: 978-0786708369
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #328,142 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ruth Gruber is an award-winning Jewish American journalist, photographer, and humanitarian. She was born in Brooklyn in 1911 and is the author of nineteen books, including the National Jewish Book Award-winning biography Raquela (1978).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Backstory for HAVEN Miniseries, February 9, 2001

By 

Barbara Seaman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ahead of Time: My Early Years as a Foreign Correspondent (Paperback)

Many of you who see the CBS miniseries will be reading and loving HAVEN,the book, but may be puzzled that the material on Ruth's experiences in 1930s Germany are --missing. Look no further! The information is here. If you are hooked on HAVEN you will want to read this book also, because the flashbacks to Germany are entirely taken from AHEAD OF TIME. It's also a great book. As Joan Michel wrote in HADASSAH MAGAZINE upon first publication in 1991:

-"Talk about courageous pioneers and voyages into uncharted waters, about plumbing the depths of the human spirit, of discovering new worlds and uncovering hidden teasures..Ruth Gruber takes us on an extraordinary personal journey."

Ruth Gruber, my stepmother, is 89 and I can vouch that she remains one of the most brilliant and adventurous women you could ever hope to meet, as well as THE BEST storyteller. She learned story telling from a consumate artist, Virginia Woolf, on whom Ruth wrote the very first doctoral thesis, conferred by the Univerity of Cologne in 1931 when she was but twenty. The University boasted that Ruth was "the world's youngest PhD" and in honor of her achievement, Cologne's Lord Mayer Konrad Adenauer presented her with a gift of two magnificent art books. As she left his chambers, the future United Nations leader placed his hand on her head, as in a benediciton."Bless you my child. May God go with you."

And- it seems as though God did!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The life of an amazing young woman, August 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Ahead of Time: My Early Years as a Foreign Correspondent (Paperback)

This very engaging book covers so many experiences that you have to keep reminding yourself it's only about Ruth Gruber's first 25 years. While others have commented negatively on her simple writing style, I found it refreshing. She doesn't come across as a Ph.D. disseminating her vast knowledge, but as the young woman she was at the time, amazed at being able to have all the experiences she had. She seems to write from that viewpoint, so that even though she wrote this book much later in life, you feel like you're having a chat with "Rut," as the Russians call her, who is a very intelligent, but still very young woman. She apparently based this book on notes she took at the time, so its youthful attitude is authentic. Be warned, though, if you're older than 25 you're going to come away from this book feeling like a complete slacker.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring, February 6, 2001

By 

Mr. Steven Katten (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ahead of Time: My Early Years as a Foreign Correspondent (Paperback)

If you want to energize and expand the horizons of young people, especially females, give them this beautifully written autobiograhy! It is an against-all-odds story made more riveting by the fact that it is true. There is enough action and tension to fill several movies. The only question: who could play the indomitable Ruth Gruber?