The Legacy of Librarian Ruth Rappaport

A Well-Read Woman: The Life, Loves, and Legacy of Ruth Rappaport

Author: Kate Stewart

Publisher: Little A

Publication Date: May 1, 2019

Length: 397 Pages

A featured selection in the Amazon First Reads program.





About The Author
Kate Stewart is a third-generation librarian, born and raised in the Midwest. She has worked as a librarian and archivist for ProQuest, the Library of Congress, and the US Senate in Washington, DC. She is currently an archivist at the Arizona Historical Society in Tucson, Arizona.

Overcoming Adversity and Never Giving Up
Ruth Rappaport (1923 - 2010) spent her early years in Leipzig, Germany. She was the daughter of Jewish parents and was sent to Switerzland in the late 1930s. She traveled to Seattle to live with relatives during WWII. Her father died in Buchenwald and her mother died at Ravensbrueck during the war.

Kate Stewart tells the fascinating story about how Ruth survived and thrived after she was forced to leave her family in Germany. She was a voracious reader and books helped fill the void left by her tragic early life. Ruth had visited libraries as a child and always dreamed of someday working as a librarian. She eventually earned a MLS degree and set up libraries in Vietnam for soldiers during the Vietnam War. She came back to the U.S. to work as a cataloguer in the Library of Congress for many years.

My Thoughts
When I was in elementary school, I always chose biographies to read when I visited the library. I was especially interested in the stories of famous women...Jane Addams, Clara Barton, Helen Keller, Florence Nightengale, etc.
I was immediately drawn to this book when I realized it was a biography of a librarian.

Ruth Rappaport was not famous but she lived an extremely courageous and distinguished life. Ms. Stewart used diary entries, letters, and archives to describe Ruth's "life, loves, and legacy." She visited many of the locations where Ruth lived to give the reader a clear understanding of the world as Ruth saw it.

I was especially interested in the years that Ruth spent in Vietnam setting up libraries for the soldiers and sending out packets of books/magazines to the front lines. She traveled in helicopters to oversee the branch libraries that were operating in remote areas. While in Vietnam, she was romantically involved with a U.S. serviceman for several years before learning that he had a wife and five children back in the States. Alas, Ruth was not lucky in love and never married.

The only thing I disliked about this book was the rather long history of the Library of Congress that didn't really have much to do with Ruth's story. The author provided too much (in my opinion) information about the politics, hiring discrimination and other random facts about the Library of Congress during the years that Ruth worked there. 

I believe this book will find a wide audience with librarians and history buffs who are interested in World War II, Jewish history and the Holocaust. 

MY RATING: 4 STARS OUT OF 5

FYI ~ I received a free digital copy of this book from the Amazon First Reads program

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Book Review: Where the Water Meets the Sand by Tyra Manning

Title: Where the Water Meets the Sand

Author: Tyra Manning

Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press

Publication Date: May 10, 2016

Length: 264 Pages



About The Author
After retiring from a forty-year career in education, Dr. Tyra Manning has devoted her energies to comforting those suffering in silence, reducing the stigma associated with mental illness, and opening doors to resources for support and treatment.

A Woman With A Mission
Tyra Manning learned that her husband had been killed in the Vietnam War from her psychiatrist at the Menninger Clinic, where she had been hospitalized for clinical depression. After years of battling addiction and depression, Tyra's worst fear had come true. Larry had been shot down over the Laotian jungle while flying a top-secret mission, just two weeks before their daughter's second birthday.

The author recounts how she was able to persevere in the face of devastating loss. With courage, love, and determination, she overcame her grief and fulfilled promises she made to Larry before he left for Vietnam. She ultimately earned a doctorate of education from the University of Kansas and became one of the nation's top school superintendents.

When Tyra received a call from the Air Force in 2006, she was able to keep one last promise to Larry. His remains had finally been excavated after thirty-five years, and she was able to honor his wish to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

My Thoughts
This memoir is remarkable for many reasons. I started reading this book and couldn't put it down until I read the last page.

The author is a survivor. Tyra Manning is as much of a hero as her husband who lost his life in Vietnam. She would not give up, no matter how difficult her life circumstances were.

Here are some of the challenges that Dr. Manning overcame:

• The illness and death of her father at a young age.
• Depression, anxiety and eating disorders.
• Alcohol addiction.
• Becoming a young widow of an Air Force pilot killed in Vietnam.
• Single motherhood.
• Working as a school teacher and going to school at night and during summers.
• Severe injuries from a head-on collision with a drunk driver.
• Divorce.
• Dealing with military authorities for over 35 years to have her husband's remains returned and buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Trya and Larry were planning to meet in Hawaii, where the water meets the sand, during an upcoming R&R leave. This dream of walking on the beach with her husband inspired and comforted Tyra during her most difficult days.

Courage. Inspiration. Determination. Perseverance. Patriotism. Hope. Love.

These are just a few words that describe Dr. Manning's life journey. 

Highly recommended!

My Rating: 5 Stars Out Of 5

FYI ~ I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

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The video book trailer below provides some highlights from the book.

The Soldier On Crutches by Edgar A Guest

I would like to wish you all a very happy 4th of July! Please remember those who are fighting for our freedom and their families. Freedom is not free.

I would like to honor Richard Thomas, my daughter's father-in-law. This is a picture of him receiving the Purple Heart in March, 1970. He lost both legs while serving in the U.S. Army in Vietnam.

The Soldier On Crutches
By Edgar A. Guest 

He came down the stairs on the laughter-filled grill
Where patriots were eating and drinking their fill,
The tap of his crutch on the marble of white
Caught my ear as I sat all alone there that night.
I turned—and a soldier my eyes fell upon,
He had fought for his country, and one leg was gone!

As he entered a silence fell over the place;
Every eye in the room was turned up to his face.
His head was up high and his eyes seemed aflame
With a wonderful light, and he laughed as he came.
He was young—not yet thirty—yet never he made
One sign of regret for the price he had paid.

One moment before this young soldier came in
I had caught bits of speech in the clatter and din
From the fine men about me in life's dress parade
Who were boasting the cash sacrifices they'd made;
And I'd thought of my own paltry service with pride,
When I turned and that hero of battle I spied.
I shall never forget the hot flushes of shame
That rushed to my cheeks as that young fellow came.
He was cheerful and smiling and clear-eyed and fine
And out of his face golden light seemed to shine.
And I thought as he passed me on crutches:"How small
Are the gifts that I make if I don't give my all."

Some day in the future in many a place
More soldiers just like him we'll all have to face.
We must sit with them, talk with them, laugh with them, too,
With the signs of their service forever in view
And this was my thought as I looked at him then—
Oh, God! make me worthy to stand with such men.

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