Ruthie's Kids: Tough love from a tough Mom.

The true story of 7 kids being raised by a single mother in the slums of lower East Side Manhattan during the 1950's. A tale of growing up poor and struggling for dignity as seen through the eyes of one of her sons. The sometimes poignant, often humorous, but always grateful description of a mother's relentless struggle to keep her family together despite the challenges of poverty, crime, and the well-meaning social agencies that would have separated them. Nurtured by a bare-knuckled mother who used fear to keep them in line, Ruthie's Kids will be forever indebted to the woman who understood the meaning of "tough love" before it became a fashionable cliche. Thanks to her courage and commitment, 7 kids survived the urban jungle, ended the welfare dependency, and became productive citizens.