“Here is essaying at its very best—search and salvage, test and measure—mining the language for what’s precious and rare. In Recovering Ruth, Robert Root works rich intersecting veins of history and humanity, biography and self-discovery, people, places, lives, and times. The reader is the richer for it.”—Thomas Lynch, author of The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade
“Recovering Ruth beautifully illustrates how one life can inform another, even across the boundaries of time and place. Written with consummate skill and grace, Root’s story speaks to the human quest for meaning and connection through narrative.”—Kim Barnes, author of In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country
"The belief that affect is a crucial component to life writing is attested to by the empathy the reader feels for Root, his project, and his subject, Ruth. As a biographer, Root employs a diversity of research techniques and texts to document his subject. . . . Root's enthusiasm for his work and his dedication to recovering the life of a fogotten woman are laudable."—Susan Friedman, biography
“Root’s biographer’s tale is a curious combination of history and personal discovery that carries the reader back and forth through time.”—Mary Isca, The Grand Rapids Press
