Reuther: A Daughter Strikes

Walter Reuther, for 24 years president of the United Auto Workers, was indisputably a remarkable and foresighted man. His daughter's doting biography not only details many of Reuther's accomplishments and the controversy and dedication he inspired, but relates colorful family history (such as his two-year trek with his brother through Russia and Europe during the Nazi rise to power) and Reuther's idiosyncrasies (he was a teetotaler). Reuther emerges a sympathetic figure, and accounts of his persistence and drivein overcoming a limp in adolescence, for example, or in landing a good jobare revealing and moving, as is evidence of his and his family's courage in the face of numerous assassination attempts. Although Dickmeyer never disengages herself from her subject, retaining a childlike hero-worship almost from the first page, her book provides a valuable and informative examination of a great man's life, with insights into his philosophies. Photos. Author tour. (Feb.)