How public events affect private lives is a Leitmotiv of this moving memoir. Eva and her secular Jewish family managed to evade the Holocaust and lesser public disasters, but not some private ones. In New York and several other places and cultures, she evolved from a shy, often fearful child and adolescent to an increasingly self-confident feminist and outspoken peace activist. Family relations and troubles play out in a context of the Cold War and changes in Jewish status with the rise of Israel.