RuTaHmDAYANiia1wiaynsicdareahmaeddoaf vlivhinegionnea<br > of the most cosmopolitan women in Israel and<br > spends more time circling the world in iet planes<br > than in gathering the sheaves<br > AS she explains in this forthright memoirshe iS<br > the product of the needs of her time and society<br > She 1eft high school at seventeen to live in an agri<br > cultural communitywhere her happiest hours were<br > spent in milking the COWSbaking breadand mak<br > ing cheeseThere she met Moshe Dayanand a year<br > laterafter a brief and intense courtshipthey were<br > married<br > Their early life together in a simpie rural hut was<br > idyllic and arduousThey were pooryoungvery<br > much in loveand hardworkingtheir happiness<br > was punctuated only by his frequent absences on<br > underground defense operations and in prison<br > Ruth ran the farmbore and raised their three<br > childrenand nursed her husband back to health<br > after a wartime iniury shattered his visionAs he<br > advanced in public lifeshe became his hostess and<br > entertained dignitaries from all over the WOridIn<br > 1 948after the War of Independenceshe organized<br > Maskitthe multimilliondollar international corn<br > pany that employs new immigrants to Israel and<br > distributes their handicrafts throughout the world<br > She iS also a chairman of Brit Bnei Sheman organi<br > zation dedicated to fostering better understanding<br > between Israeli Jews and Arabs<br > Sparing no oneincluding herselfRuth Dayan<br > tells the story of her life as a pioneera wifea<br > motherand an ardent participant in her countryS<br > struggle for freedom and peaceWith wit and can<br > dor she tells what it iS like to be the mother of three<br >