Ruth Gruber Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

About Ruth Gruber
As an American humanitarian, Ruth Gruber was not just an award winning journalist and photographer, but also a world renowned author as well. Working throughout much of the twentieth century, her work was seen as hugely important and influential during her time, leaving behind a powerful and noteworthy legacy. Starting out as a writer and journalist, she’d make a name for herself in publications such as the New York Herald Tribune, and The New York Post. This would take place both before and after the Second World War, as she’d report for a number of highly prestigious publications.

Documenting a number of key historical events during the twentieth century as well, Gruber would be an important figure when it came to looking back on the century. With her highly vivid accounts taking note of such events, she was instrumental in providing a greater understanding of them overall. Her work was admired by many, and still is today, gaining her high degree of prominence throughout the larger literary scene at the time. The work she did as a photojournalist would also help exemplify this too, capturing essential moments in history on film.

As a writer, Gruber also has a real sense people in her work, showing a strong sense of empathy for her subjects, understanding them as individuals. This comes through in her writing, as she not just depicted them in her photography, but her extensive reporting as well. Portrayed in film and as subject to documentary herself, she had a more than interesting life, filled with intense experiences. Leaving behind a legacy that continues to inspire many to this very day, readers from around the world will carry on discovering her work for years to come.

Early and Personal Life
Born in Brooklyn, in New York City, on the 30th of September in 1911, Ruth Gruber would dream of writing for a living from a young age. Constantly developing her skills in the field, she would go on to pursue higher education with encouragement from her parents. Attending New York University at just fifteen years of age, she would go on to excel in her studies, becoming a gifted student and writer.

Following this she would also go on to graduate from Wisconsin-Madison University, having won a postgraduate fellowship at eighteen. Later attending the Institute of International Education which she gained in Cologne, she would undertake her Ph.D. in Germany, leading to her becoming the youngest person worldwide to receive a doctorate. During her time in Germany she would bring attention to the rising tide of Nazism, as she’d write for the New York Herald Tribune looking at women under fascism, leading to the long-running writing career she’s known for today.

Writing Career
During the Second World War, Gruber would become a key figure in the fight against against the Nazi occupation of Germany and beyond. Not only flying a craft herself, she would also write extensively, looking back on the time with the 1983 book ‘Haven,’ which would chart the journey of 1000 refugees escaping to America, and how she helped them. She’d also report heavily on everything she saw and witnessed there, while working for the Secretary of the Interior as Special Assistant.

Working as a foreign correspondent, Ruth Gruber also received a lot of awards during her lifetime too, gaining the Norman Mailer Prize for her coverage of the Jewish evacuation to Israel from Ethiopia. This international level of success would see her become a huge presence on the journalistic and literary scene. Changing the face of reporting, the impact of her work still inspires, as readers and reporters continue to be inspired and shaped by her writing.

Haven
With the subtitle ‘The Dramatic Story of 1,000 World War Two Refugees and How They Came to America,’ this charts a real-life event. Originally published on the 13th of June, this first came out in 1983 through the ‘Three Rivers Press’ publishing label. Operating as a stand-alone work of non-fiction, it’s an entirely self-contained account, with some of Ruth Gruber’s best reporting.

Previously refugees had been refused asylum during the Second World War, but Franklin D. Roosevelt stated that 1,000 immigrants should be brought from Italy to America. Witnessing the horrific events of the war, it was finally decided upon that the United States would take in a number of refugees. Over the course of this book, this is what this story looks at, recounting real-life events as Ruth Gruber herself saw them.

This looks back to 1944, and a time in the life of Ruth Gruber when she would witness over 1,000 Jewish and Christian refugees seeking sanctuary in the United States. Working as the special assistant for Harold L. Ickes, the US Secretary of the Interior, Gruber undertakes a top-secret mission to assist the survivors in their escape to America. Hiding in forests and sewers back in Germany, they now travel across the Atlantic in a U-Boat, where the refugee camp providing safety awaits them in Oswego, New York. It’s here that their names are remembered and their stories told, keeping this heroic mission alive for generations to come.

Raquela
Initially published in 1978, this would first come out through the ‘Three Rivers Press’ publishing label, and would be another stand-alone work of non-fiction. Following the real-life case of Raquela Prywes, it looks at her life after the end of the Second World War and the establishing of Israel. Dealing with a whole host of different issues, the story is seen primarily though her eyes, offering a window into the history of the country.

Set around the 1948 War of Independence, this follows the ninth-generation Jerusalemite Raquela Prywes from her childhood through to her adult calling as a battlefield nurse. Working in the Atlit detention camp in Israel, she would walk across minefields to attend to the wounded, helping the Holocaust survivors and delivering babies. A hero of her time, she would also meet and fall in love with the captain of one of the refugee ships, having to choose between him and the distinguished doctor based back in Jerusalem. Through Raquela’s eyes, Gruber tells the story of how Israel came to be, fighting through the difficult times, looking at its history and roots.