Political & Legal Figures - Women's Biography, First Ladies & Families - Biography, Political Activists & Social Reformers - U.S. Political Biography

Eleanor Roosevelt

Name: Eleanor Roosevelt
Author: Blanche Wiesen Cook
ISBN: 9780670804863

by Cook, Blanche Wiesen

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Overview

Celebrated by feminists, historians, politicians, and reviewers everywhere, Blanche Wiesen Cook's Eleanor Roosevelt presents an unprecedented portrait of the towering female figure of the twentieth century. The second volume plunges into the White House years and the Great Depression, the time when Eleanor exerted enormous influence over the course of the country. In the thirties, Eleanor becomes even more surprising and multifaceted. A loyal wife, a devoted mother, a woman who courted romance and adventure, Eleanor Roosevelt was America's most compelling, charismatic, and visionary First Lady. She ran a virtual parallel administration that championed civil rights, affordable housing, and a New Deal for women. She took unpopular stands and often countered her husband's policies, particularly concerning racial justice, women's rights, the plight of refugees, and approaches to Fascism and the Spanish Civil War. The book closes in 1938, as Europe moves toward war. This is an unparalleled presentation of a woman whose life was filled with passionate commitment and who struggled for personal fulfillment. It is a book for all readers of American history and politics, and as the New Deal comes under assault today, a book for readers who care about a decent future for all people.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This highly readable, well-researched work of feminist scholarship erases the image of the young Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) as a long suffering, repressed wife and presents her as a strong, ever-evolving individual who overcame an emotionally impoverished childhood to become a champion of social justice and a woman deeply involved in enduring love relationships. Cook (Crystal Eastman on Women and Revolution) notes that although her subject felt compelled by the tenor of the times to act the role of dutiful wife, daughter-in-law and mother, she early on transformed herself from a dependent female into a social activist, writer and teacher. Her work with feminist friends during the 1920s on the League of Nations and the World Court is fully covered, as is her involvement in FDR's political campaigns. The author is forthright about her subject's private life. As much anguish as her husband's affair with Lucy Mercer caused her, it also liberated her to forge her own erotic relationships. For the first time adequate coverage is given of Eleanor Roosevelt's possible affair with Earl Miller, a New York state trooper who became her bodyguard, and her enduring passionate relationship with reporter Lorena Hickok. An outstanding first installment of a projected two-volume study of a major 20th-century figure.

Booknews

The first volume of a projected two-volume biography. Historian (CUNY) and journalist Cook draws upon previously untapped sources--including recently opened archives, FBI and State Department documents, and letters of long-obscured friends--to restore a goodly dose of human passion to the iconic humanitarian. Volume one spans the years from Eleanor's birth to her husband Franklin Delano's inauguration. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)