Wild Bird: The True Jazz Age Tale of Ruth Wightman Morris

It wasn’t that Ruth Wightman Morris didn’t know the rules—it was that she lived to break them. Fiercely defying expectations in every area of her life, Ruth was at the forefront of the Jazz Age revolution. She was a woman who could captivate every man in the nightclub—and the next day set the women’s speed record in a race car, perform a stunt in a plane, or get in the ring with a bull. Hers was a life of great successes and great sorrows, fabulous parties and headline-grabbing scandals, love affairs that could not endure and a dead body that could not be explained. And until now, her story has gone untold. In John A. Greenwald’s true tale, we follow this Roman candle of a woman from coast to coast and across the seas, sharing in her adventures as a rebel and pioneer and witnessing the tragic downfall that led to her early death. Here, at last, is her story—and like the woman herself, it is unforgettable, inimitable, and wild.

A California native, John A. Greenwald is a graduate of UC Berkeley and a former copywriter for several major advertising agencies. He later became a teacher and began helping high school students learn how to write. He lives with his wife, Carol, in Monterey.