Ahead of Time

June 3, 1991
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 Gruber changes some names for the sake of privacy, devaluing the book somewhat as a historical document.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.