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Eleanor
New York Times Bestseller
Prizewinning bestselling author David Michaelis presents a “stunning” ( The Wall Street Journal ) breakthrough portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt, America’s longest-serving First Lady, an avatar of democracy whose ever-expanding agency as diplomat, activist, and humanitarian made her one of the world’s most widely admired and influential women.
In the first single-volume cradle-to-grave portrait in six decades, acclaimed biographer David Michaelis delivers a stunning account of Eleanor Roosevelt’s remarkable life of transformation. An orphaned niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, she converted her Gilded Age childhood of denial and secrecy into an irreconcilable marriage with her ambitious fifth cousin Franklin. Despite their inability to make each other happy, Franklin Roosevelt transformed Eleanor from a settlement house volunteer on New York’s Lower East Side into a matching partner in New York’s most important power couple in a generation.
When Eleanor discovered Franklin’s betrayal with her younger, prettier social secretary, Lucy Mercer, she offered a divorce and vowed to face herself honestly. Here is an Eleanor both more vulnerable and more aggressive, more psychologically aware and sexually adaptable than we knew. She came to accept FDR’s bond with his executive assistant, Missy LeHand; she allowed her children to live their own lives, as she never could; and she explored her sexual attraction to women, among them a star female reporter on FDR’s first presidential campaign, and younger men.
Eleanor needed emotional connection. She pursued deeper relationships wherever she could find them. Throughout her life and travels, there was always another person or place she wanted to heal. As FDR struggled to recover from polio, Eleanor became a voice for the voiceless, her husband’s proxy in presidential ambition, and then the people’s proxy in the White House. Later, she would be the architect of international human rights and world citizen of the Atomic Age, urging Americans to cope with the anxiety of global annihilation by cultivating a “world mind.” She insisted that we cannot live for ourselves alone but must learn to live together or we will die together.
Drawing on new research, Michaelis’s riveting portrait is not just a comprehensive biography of a major American figure, but the story of an American how our freedom is always a choice. Eleanor rediscovers a model of what is noble and evergreen in the American character, a model we need today more than ever.
Prizewinning bestselling author David Michaelis presents a “stunning” ( The Wall Street Journal ) breakthrough portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt, America’s longest-serving First Lady, an avatar of democracy whose ever-expanding agency as diplomat, activist, and humanitarian made her one of the world’s most widely admired and influential women.
In the first single-volume cradle-to-grave portrait in six decades, acclaimed biographer David Michaelis delivers a stunning account of Eleanor Roosevelt’s remarkable life of transformation. An orphaned niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, she converted her Gilded Age childhood of denial and secrecy into an irreconcilable marriage with her ambitious fifth cousin Franklin. Despite their inability to make each other happy, Franklin Roosevelt transformed Eleanor from a settlement house volunteer on New York’s Lower East Side into a matching partner in New York’s most important power couple in a generation.
When Eleanor discovered Franklin’s betrayal with her younger, prettier social secretary, Lucy Mercer, she offered a divorce and vowed to face herself honestly. Here is an Eleanor both more vulnerable and more aggressive, more psychologically aware and sexually adaptable than we knew. She came to accept FDR’s bond with his executive assistant, Missy LeHand; she allowed her children to live their own lives, as she never could; and she explored her sexual attraction to women, among them a star female reporter on FDR’s first presidential campaign, and younger men.
Eleanor needed emotional connection. She pursued deeper relationships wherever she could find them. Throughout her life and travels, there was always another person or place she wanted to heal. As FDR struggled to recover from polio, Eleanor became a voice for the voiceless, her husband’s proxy in presidential ambition, and then the people’s proxy in the White House. Later, she would be the architect of international human rights and world citizen of the Atomic Age, urging Americans to cope with the anxiety of global annihilation by cultivating a “world mind.” She insisted that we cannot live for ourselves alone but must learn to live together or we will die together.
Drawing on new research, Michaelis’s riveting portrait is not just a comprehensive biography of a major American figure, but the story of an American how our freedom is always a choice. Eleanor rediscovers a model of what is noble and evergreen in the American character, a model we need today more than ever.
720 pages, Hardcover
First published October 6, 2020
About the author
David Michaelis
17 books106 followersDavid Michaelis grew up in Cambridge, Mass. and Washington, D. C., was educated at Concord Academy and Princeton University, and is the author of the national bestsellers N. C. WYETH: A Biography (Alfred A. Knopf, 1998; available from Harper Perennial), which won the 1999 Ambassador Book Award for Biography, given by the English-Speaking Union of the United States, and SCHULZ AND PEANUTS: A Biography (Harper, 2007; Harper Perennial), a National Book Critics Circle Best Recommended Book, among other honors. He lives in New York City and Tenants Harbor, Maine, with his wife the documentary film producer Nancy Steiner, and their family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 604 reviews
November 7, 2021
This is a very effective new biography of Eleanor. It's an understatement she had to overcome so much, including the tragic death of her parents who were lost when they were still young. My favorite parts were those focused on the personalities of both Eleanor and FDR. There was a lot of inside baseball of various campaigns that I found less appealing, more suitable for political junkies.
We are left with the same question. Why is the Democratic Party so far away from the ideals and successes of the Roosevelts? Perhaps there is a partial answer here....
https://www.theguardian.com/commentis...
and
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/...
We are left with the same question. Why is the Democratic Party so far away from the ideals and successes of the Roosevelts? Perhaps there is a partial answer here....
https://www.theguardian.com/commentis...
and
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/...
September 16, 2020
"All her life, Eleanor believed that she had to earn love--by pleasing others, by undertaking ever more numberless duties, by one more tour of useful Rooseveltian doing.~ from Eleanor by David Michaelis
Compared to her beautiful parents, she was plain. Her mother was a social butterfly and her father was charming. Her mother nicknamed her Granny. Her alcoholic father could make her feel like a princess, but he was unreliable and could not save her. She struggled with confidence all her life.
She found happiness with her grandparents and while away at school where she was mentored by a progressive, free thinking lesbian. She would have liked to become a nurse, but was fated to 'come out' into the marriage market.
She married her cousin when he was still a priggish outsider. She saw him become a handsome ladies man determined to follow their uncle Teddy's career path to the White House.
She bore nine children. She lost family to alcoholism and disease. When she learned of her husband's infidelity, her mother-in-law forbade divorce. She found love outside of her marriage and family with women and younger men.
"Martha Gellhorn thought of her as 'the loneliest human being I ever knew in my life'."~from Eleanor by David Michaelis
Remarkably, this unfortunate woman turned tragedy into strength, depression into action. She had been ignorant of politics and world affairs and had accepted the status quo understanding of status, race, religion, world affairs. She threw herself into the work of understanding human need. As she traveled the world and the country, she learned, expanded, and became a powerful voice.
She pushed her presidential husband toward positions of equity and inclusiveness and empathy and morality. She expanded the role of the First Lady, a tireless campaigner.
She was a leader in the United Nations as they forged the first statement of human rights. On the President's Commission on the Status of Women she "identified the issues that soon became the agenda of the women's movement."
David Michaelis has given us a marvelous, empathetic biography of this complex woman. He does not spare Franklin Roosevelt or shroud Eleanor's deep love for Lorena Hickok in doubt.
Eleanor is a timeless role model who should inspire each generation. Life did not break her, the times did not discourage her, public opinion did not stop her. Eleanor rose above it all to follow her innate moral compass and lead us all to compassion and a just society.
I was given a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Compared to her beautiful parents, she was plain. Her mother was a social butterfly and her father was charming. Her mother nicknamed her Granny. Her alcoholic father could make her feel like a princess, but he was unreliable and could not save her. She struggled with confidence all her life.
She found happiness with her grandparents and while away at school where she was mentored by a progressive, free thinking lesbian. She would have liked to become a nurse, but was fated to 'come out' into the marriage market.
She married her cousin when he was still a priggish outsider. She saw him become a handsome ladies man determined to follow their uncle Teddy's career path to the White House.
She bore nine children. She lost family to alcoholism and disease. When she learned of her husband's infidelity, her mother-in-law forbade divorce. She found love outside of her marriage and family with women and younger men.
"Martha Gellhorn thought of her as 'the loneliest human being I ever knew in my life'."~from Eleanor by David Michaelis
Remarkably, this unfortunate woman turned tragedy into strength, depression into action. She had been ignorant of politics and world affairs and had accepted the status quo understanding of status, race, religion, world affairs. She threw herself into the work of understanding human need. As she traveled the world and the country, she learned, expanded, and became a powerful voice.
She pushed her presidential husband toward positions of equity and inclusiveness and empathy and morality. She expanded the role of the First Lady, a tireless campaigner.
She was a leader in the United Nations as they forged the first statement of human rights. On the President's Commission on the Status of Women she "identified the issues that soon became the agenda of the women's movement."
David Michaelis has given us a marvelous, empathetic biography of this complex woman. He does not spare Franklin Roosevelt or shroud Eleanor's deep love for Lorena Hickok in doubt.
Eleanor is a timeless role model who should inspire each generation. Life did not break her, the times did not discourage her, public opinion did not stop her. Eleanor rose above it all to follow her innate moral compass and lead us all to compassion and a just society.
I was given a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
March 15, 2022
This is an eloquent biography of this extraordinary women who had a Dickensian upbringing – an uncaring mother who died when she was eight years old - and a father who was such an alcohol abuser that he had to be institutionalized several times; he died when Eleanor was ten years old. She was pawned off to live with relatives who had their share of neuroses.
The author delves into the psychological background of Eleanor and the relationships and friendships she had during her lifetime.
Eleanor Roosevelt evolved tremendously from her narrow-minded patrician upbringing - where the working classes were frowned upon; and any member of a minority group was caricatured and seen as almost sub-human.
She came to realize, with Franklin’s failed run for the vice-presidency in 1920 and then his later political ascent, that government could and should do something for people – to provide services, a safety net, and justice. She did not mean this in a theoretical sense, but in a very practical way. Eleanor would focus to a sharp point her attention on individuals and their needs. She became an activist and agitator. She never stopped.
It was almost like an outlet for her. After the discovery of Franklin’s affair with Lucy Mercer in 1918, she became disillusioned with him. Her energies went to outside world. She made many useful friendships – as with Louis Howe, who encouraged her to remain politically active after Franklin contracted poliomyelitis.
Page 198 in 1920
Louis Howe had witnessed the unremitting intensity of Eleanor’s need to be useful to a husband whose disregard of her abilities tormented her.
Page 316 Eleanor
“How important it was that in every community there should be someone to whom people could turn, who were in doubt as to what their rights were under the law, when they couldn’t understand what was happening to them. I wish we had one in every place throughout the country…one group of people who really care when things go wrong and do something where there is an infringement on the individual’s rights.”
But since there was no one like that, she made it her business.
She became an ombudsperson for America – a role never performed before by any President’s wife.
There is a great deal in this book on the psychological relationship of Eleanor and Franklin (Franklin, was in many ways impenetrable to all around him). There is also considerable discussion of Sara, Franklin’s mother. I felt the author did not give enough credit to Sara for looking after her grandchildren (there were five) when Eleanor was away with friends or on speaking engagements during the 1920s. In many ways Sara became the mother (and parent) that Eleanor never had.
Eleanor had a strong desire to care for others. She certainly did this with Franklin after he contracted polio. But peculiarly, she lavished more attention on her friends than on her children. The author did not explore this.
The author tells of the strong friendships she had with Nancy Cook, Marion Dickerman, Earl Miller, Lorena Hickok and Joseph Lash. But he does not discuss the nature of the break-up of these relationships. Eleanor had a tendency to freeze people out.
One strong aspect of this book was the detail the author provides which gives us insight into Eleanor – for example the volunteer work Eleanor did during World War I in Union Station serving food to thousands of soldiers departing for the trenches of Europe.
I did find the World War II portions of the book to be rushed. There is just one line on her visit to London. There is a picture of Eleanor visiting an internment camp of Japanese-Americans. Eleanor was opposed to this rounding up of innocent American citizens and removing them from their homes and businesses to re-locate them in isolation somewhere in the mid-west. Aside from the picture there is nothing in the text about this visit.
Eleanor was never afraid (and sometimes embarrassed) to point out the hypocrisies of American life – for example when working for the United Nations as a U.S. representative.
Page 460 Eleanor 1947
“I had no answer, what do you say, standing before a committee of a World Organization, when you are asked about the Ku Klux Klan?”
She was instrumental in putting forth the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” – more valid now than ever.
Page 475 Eleanor
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in, the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination.”
The author delves into the psychological background of Eleanor and the relationships and friendships she had during her lifetime.
Eleanor Roosevelt evolved tremendously from her narrow-minded patrician upbringing - where the working classes were frowned upon; and any member of a minority group was caricatured and seen as almost sub-human.
She came to realize, with Franklin’s failed run for the vice-presidency in 1920 and then his later political ascent, that government could and should do something for people – to provide services, a safety net, and justice. She did not mean this in a theoretical sense, but in a very practical way. Eleanor would focus to a sharp point her attention on individuals and their needs. She became an activist and agitator. She never stopped.
It was almost like an outlet for her. After the discovery of Franklin’s affair with Lucy Mercer in 1918, she became disillusioned with him. Her energies went to outside world. She made many useful friendships – as with Louis Howe, who encouraged her to remain politically active after Franklin contracted poliomyelitis.
Page 198 in 1920
Louis Howe had witnessed the unremitting intensity of Eleanor’s need to be useful to a husband whose disregard of her abilities tormented her.
Page 316 Eleanor
“How important it was that in every community there should be someone to whom people could turn, who were in doubt as to what their rights were under the law, when they couldn’t understand what was happening to them. I wish we had one in every place throughout the country…one group of people who really care when things go wrong and do something where there is an infringement on the individual’s rights.”
But since there was no one like that, she made it her business.
She became an ombudsperson for America – a role never performed before by any President’s wife.
There is a great deal in this book on the psychological relationship of Eleanor and Franklin (Franklin, was in many ways impenetrable to all around him). There is also considerable discussion of Sara, Franklin’s mother. I felt the author did not give enough credit to Sara for looking after her grandchildren (there were five) when Eleanor was away with friends or on speaking engagements during the 1920s. In many ways Sara became the mother (and parent) that Eleanor never had.
Eleanor had a strong desire to care for others. She certainly did this with Franklin after he contracted polio. But peculiarly, she lavished more attention on her friends than on her children. The author did not explore this.
The author tells of the strong friendships she had with Nancy Cook, Marion Dickerman, Earl Miller, Lorena Hickok and Joseph Lash. But he does not discuss the nature of the break-up of these relationships. Eleanor had a tendency to freeze people out.
One strong aspect of this book was the detail the author provides which gives us insight into Eleanor – for example the volunteer work Eleanor did during World War I in Union Station serving food to thousands of soldiers departing for the trenches of Europe.
I did find the World War II portions of the book to be rushed. There is just one line on her visit to London. There is a picture of Eleanor visiting an internment camp of Japanese-Americans. Eleanor was opposed to this rounding up of innocent American citizens and removing them from their homes and businesses to re-locate them in isolation somewhere in the mid-west. Aside from the picture there is nothing in the text about this visit.
Eleanor was never afraid (and sometimes embarrassed) to point out the hypocrisies of American life – for example when working for the United Nations as a U.S. representative.
Page 460 Eleanor 1947
“I had no answer, what do you say, standing before a committee of a World Organization, when you are asked about the Ku Klux Klan?”
She was instrumental in putting forth the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” – more valid now than ever.
Page 475 Eleanor
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in, the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination.”
March 3, 2023
"You must do the thing you think you cannot do."
While me reading this book in what GR dubbs „Women‘s History Month“ is purely coincidental, I do like reading about historically important people and think that women have been overlooked quite a lot until relatively recently. This biography, I‘m happy to say, does the powerhouse that is Eleanor Roosevelt justice.
I‘ve decided not to repeat the important dates in Eleanor‘s life here. It doesn‘t really matter to me when she did what. Instead, it is important, that she did what she did. Especially considering how she started out.
Because Eleanor was bullied by her very own mother and other relatives to the extreme. She was ignored or mocked, her self-confidence not taken away but never allowed to emerge at all. It had a severe impact on her later life as she not only needed at least one person‘s constant reassurance but also meant she couldn‘t really connect with her husband. To be sure, that was not just her fault as FDR wasn‘t exactly a devoted husband either. Nevertheless, Eleanor might have reacted to certain events differently, stood up more to her mother-in-law for example.
Instead, Eleanor was often just decoration, ordered around, talked down to, ignored (again) and left to suffer various slights, not least of which were her husbands affairs.
She still stood by her husband though she eventually learned to set terms.
Then FDR became President and while I sincerely doubt I would have ever been able to like the man, I do like many of his policies - which OBVIOUSLY were HEAVILY influenced by his wife. In fact, he probably would have never been able to win the election without Eleanor‘s help.
She was a diligent worker, always passionate and never tiring. Eventually, she even learned to do what she didn‘t necessarily wanted to if it was important (she learned that from President Wilson‘s wife), like taking care of wounded soldiers. It even became her motto (see above).
She taught herself a lot on a host of topics (workers rights, the Suffragette movement, racism, …) and didn‘t let anyone discourage her. She was her only real enemy, everyone else was either won over or outmaneuvered.
She saw two world wars and I have to admit that I admire any of the women who lived through it. In fact, one of my favourite poems is Eleanor‘s
Wartime Prayer :
Dear Lord,
Lest I continue
My complacent way,
Help me to remember that somewhere,
Somehow out there
A man died for me today.
As long as there be war,
I then must
Ask and answer
Am I worth dying for?
One surprise in this biography, which I have since verified, was that Eleanor was bisexual and had female lovers. I don‘t mind per se, especially since she allowed her husband his affairs, but I am one of those romantics thinking that either you‘re devoted to your partner or you should quit. *shrugs*
I was also not too happy about reading how Eleanor felt on certain issues as a young woman. Black servants for example. However, it soon became apparent that she was a creature of her time and circumstances, who learned the error of such views. I was therefore very happy to read how and often how soon she changed and how she then championed important social causes such as quality of education for ANY child, regardless of skin colour - and regardless of how much opposition she had to face down.
What I hadn‘t known was that FDR‘s policies were the outliers. I thought his were the US norm and the suppression of voters, America-First-ers, filibusters, underfunding of schools, lack of taxation of the rich etc. were the outliers. As it turns out, FDR‘s policies made America a shining beacon of hope to the rest of the world BY ACCIDENT. Consider me taught.
And no, Eleanor did not slow down or become quiet after the death of her husband. She served the UN and kept on campaigning for great and important causes, became a skilled and respected diplomat, saw The Declaration of Human Rights being passed (she helped pen it), and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 6 times (though recent nominees make this less of an achievement, I guess).
A woman not without fault but continuously working on self-improvement and helping others in difficult circumstances that deserves praise. I‘m glad I read this really wonderfully penned biography that also tells of the times Eleanor lived in, therefore giving a rounded impression of the times and tribulations and context, therefore furthering understanding.
October 21, 2020
This well-written and thoroughly researched biography covers the details of Eleanor's life, from her unhappy childhood with a selfish mother who referred to her serious child as "granny;" to her schooling at a wonderful academy which would give her some much-deserved recognition; a marriage with a man whose mother dominated his life and who cheated on her; and finally coming into her own as a spokesperson for the underdog. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC.
December 21, 2020
I know there are a lot of raving reviews for this book, but I couldn't get past the first 100 pages. I should have know when the first 10 pages of the book was a list of people in the book to help you keep track. I found the writing to be stilted, jerky and so riddled with footnotes I couldn't seem to find a complete sentence on the page. I would find myself reading the same paragraph over and over trying to process what the author was trying to say. Returned the book before finishing.
January 28, 2021
I was excited to see one of my favorite college professors quoted in this book. I had to start this review with that because I really loved Leonard Dinnerstein and try to emulate his thinking over forty years after studying under him.
This biography is detailed and very well documented. It was great to get a good sense of this amazing American heroine. She was a leader on topics about which we have yet to take her advice. She is a model for all of us and especially for women. She was a huge champion of women's rights.
The author, at times, tried to be cleaver or cute. He would give the information necessary to understand what he was saying, after he said it. There are many persons in the book and he included a section to remind us who was who but that was poorly prepared. This all caused me some confusion, slow reading and a bit of frustration at times. The author's interpretations of her motivations and processes were interesting and believable given the research supporting this tome.
This biography is detailed and very well documented. It was great to get a good sense of this amazing American heroine. She was a leader on topics about which we have yet to take her advice. She is a model for all of us and especially for women. She was a huge champion of women's rights.
The author, at times, tried to be cleaver or cute. He would give the information necessary to understand what he was saying, after he said it. There are many persons in the book and he included a section to remind us who was who but that was poorly prepared. This all caused me some confusion, slow reading and a bit of frustration at times. The author's interpretations of her motivations and processes were interesting and believable given the research supporting this tome.
December 4, 2020
https://thebestbiographies.com/2020/1...
Published just two months ago, “Eleanor” is the most recent of David Michaelis‘s half-dozen books. Among his best-known previous titles are “N.C. Wyeth: A Biography” which won the Ambassador Book Award for Biography in 1999 and “Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography” which was the first comprehensive and independent exploration of the life of Charles M. Schulz (and generated a modest amount of controversy).
The book’s publisher notes that “Eleanor” is the first single-volume, cradle-to-grave biography of Eleanor Roosevelt in “decades.” Previous one-volume studies include “Eleanor Roosevelt: A Personal and Public Life” by J. William T. Youngs (1984) and “Without Precedent: The Life and Career of Eleanor Roosevelt” by Joan Hoff-Wilson (1984). But most readers interested in an excellent and exhaustive exploration of Eleanor’s life will likely gravitate to Blanche Wiesen Cook’s definitive three-volume series published between 1992 and 2016.
Fortunately, this biography of America’s longest-serving (and probably most admired) First Lady proves worth the wait. Michaelis spent the better part of a decade researching Eleanor’s life and the benefit of his sleuthing is quickly clear. There is little pertinent to her private life or public career which the author has not explored, picked through, analyzed or questioned. And, to his credit, Michaelis is able to report the most salient facts and conclusions in a relatively crisp 536-page narrative.
Readers who are unfamiliar with Eleanor and the extended Roosevelt family will be grateful for the eight-page “cast of characters” which summarizes the principal participants in Eleanor’s story – family, friends and colleagues – and explains the role each plays. But regrettably missing: a Roosevelt Family Tree which would allow readers to quickly visualize the often complicated connections between Eleanor and her various relations.
The author’s writing style is dependable and coherent but lacks the alluring lyrical quality demonstrated by some of the best biographers. Instead of flowing effortlessly, the narrative often exhibits a curiously abstruse quality. But if the story is occasionally opaque or serpentine, it is almost always engaging.
The book’s best moments include coverage of Eleanor’s early marriage (when she and Franklin lived with his mother – surely every bride’s dream), a frank exploration of her attitude toward race and religion, a fascinating look at her relationship with Lorena Hickok and a wonderful review of her trip to the South Pacific during WWII.
Even more compelling is the opportunity to witness Eleanor’s gradual evolution from casual bigot and anti-suffragist to outspoken champion of human rights. But for me this biography is never better than during periods of great stress in Eleanor’s life – such as her discovery of FDR’s intimate relationship with Lucy Mercer.
Unfortunately, the author’s need to limit the book’s length impacts both its efficacy and readability. It proves uneven in its consideration of important historical context, generally lacks colorful scene-setting and sometimes delivers important messages in too subtle a manner.
In addition, important supporting characters deserve better introductions and more ongoing attention than they tend to receive, and they often seem to appear and disappear haphazardly. Finally, while the reader is able to absorb a great deal of Eleanor Roosevelt’s persona, it is not clear to me that one volume is sufficient to fully capture her essence.
Overall, David Michaelis’s “Eleanor” serves as an excellent introduction to – but not quite a fully penetrating portrait of – America’s most complicated and compelling First Lady. As history the biography is wonderful; as a story it could have been more engaging. But if it merely leaves its readers yearning for “more” Eleanor…it may well have done its job.
Overall rating: 4 stars
Published just two months ago, “Eleanor” is the most recent of David Michaelis‘s half-dozen books. Among his best-known previous titles are “N.C. Wyeth: A Biography” which won the Ambassador Book Award for Biography in 1999 and “Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography” which was the first comprehensive and independent exploration of the life of Charles M. Schulz (and generated a modest amount of controversy).
The book’s publisher notes that “Eleanor” is the first single-volume, cradle-to-grave biography of Eleanor Roosevelt in “decades.” Previous one-volume studies include “Eleanor Roosevelt: A Personal and Public Life” by J. William T. Youngs (1984) and “Without Precedent: The Life and Career of Eleanor Roosevelt” by Joan Hoff-Wilson (1984). But most readers interested in an excellent and exhaustive exploration of Eleanor’s life will likely gravitate to Blanche Wiesen Cook’s definitive three-volume series published between 1992 and 2016.
Fortunately, this biography of America’s longest-serving (and probably most admired) First Lady proves worth the wait. Michaelis spent the better part of a decade researching Eleanor’s life and the benefit of his sleuthing is quickly clear. There is little pertinent to her private life or public career which the author has not explored, picked through, analyzed or questioned. And, to his credit, Michaelis is able to report the most salient facts and conclusions in a relatively crisp 536-page narrative.
Readers who are unfamiliar with Eleanor and the extended Roosevelt family will be grateful for the eight-page “cast of characters” which summarizes the principal participants in Eleanor’s story – family, friends and colleagues – and explains the role each plays. But regrettably missing: a Roosevelt Family Tree which would allow readers to quickly visualize the often complicated connections between Eleanor and her various relations.
The author’s writing style is dependable and coherent but lacks the alluring lyrical quality demonstrated by some of the best biographers. Instead of flowing effortlessly, the narrative often exhibits a curiously abstruse quality. But if the story is occasionally opaque or serpentine, it is almost always engaging.
The book’s best moments include coverage of Eleanor’s early marriage (when she and Franklin lived with his mother – surely every bride’s dream), a frank exploration of her attitude toward race and religion, a fascinating look at her relationship with Lorena Hickok and a wonderful review of her trip to the South Pacific during WWII.
Even more compelling is the opportunity to witness Eleanor’s gradual evolution from casual bigot and anti-suffragist to outspoken champion of human rights. But for me this biography is never better than during periods of great stress in Eleanor’s life – such as her discovery of FDR’s intimate relationship with Lucy Mercer.
Unfortunately, the author’s need to limit the book’s length impacts both its efficacy and readability. It proves uneven in its consideration of important historical context, generally lacks colorful scene-setting and sometimes delivers important messages in too subtle a manner.
In addition, important supporting characters deserve better introductions and more ongoing attention than they tend to receive, and they often seem to appear and disappear haphazardly. Finally, while the reader is able to absorb a great deal of Eleanor Roosevelt’s persona, it is not clear to me that one volume is sufficient to fully capture her essence.
Overall, David Michaelis’s “Eleanor” serves as an excellent introduction to – but not quite a fully penetrating portrait of – America’s most complicated and compelling First Lady. As history the biography is wonderful; as a story it could have been more engaging. But if it merely leaves its readers yearning for “more” Eleanor…it may well have done its job.
Overall rating: 4 stars
August 28, 2020
I have read many biographies/books about Franklin Delano Roosevelt which included several references to Eleanor Roosevelt. This is the first one that I have read that was devoted mainly to her. The book is well researched and written. The author does an excellent job in detailing how Eleanor's early life shaped her character and insecurities. Her ability to deal with adversity, bias and be empathetic to those less fortunate were the most impactful points for me. She was a remarkable woman and this book does justice to her and her legacy.
I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog.
I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog.
October 16, 2020
The bad thing about reading biographies is you know how they’ll end. But even though I thought I knew a fair amount about Eleanor Roosevelt, I didn’t know much about her death, which was very sad. She had tuberculosis, of all things, and refused proper treatment.
In fact, despite her great accomplishments, it’s difficult not to see her whole life as somewhat sad. She was deprived long-lasting love by her parents, her husband, and her lovers, and it’s not clear whether her own children appreciated her. Widely considered to be homely (and consequently discounted), her contributions to humanity were not valued during her lifetime.
Decades ago, a friend complained that biographies of ER painted FDR as a villain and certainly it is easy to do so, but after reading this treatment, I’m still convinced he’s deserving of that label. While ER grew out of the sort of casual racism she was brought up with, FDR never evolved. She was seen as nagging, but she was behind most of his accomplishments.
At 720 pages, this bio requires commitment, but it’s worth it. Michaelis’s prose is very readable, and the list of people is helpful. I laughed when I read his description of John Foster Dulles as “vinegar faced.” I used to work at an archival repository with many JFD images and I can think of no better description of his visage.
It was surprising how many parallels could be drawn to today’s administration. The democrats of the early-mid twentieth century were hardly saints, but had some concept of public service. My only complaint about the book was Adlai Stevenson received little attention. #Eleanor #NetGalley #DavidMichaelis
In fact, despite her great accomplishments, it’s difficult not to see her whole life as somewhat sad. She was deprived long-lasting love by her parents, her husband, and her lovers, and it’s not clear whether her own children appreciated her. Widely considered to be homely (and consequently discounted), her contributions to humanity were not valued during her lifetime.
Decades ago, a friend complained that biographies of ER painted FDR as a villain and certainly it is easy to do so, but after reading this treatment, I’m still convinced he’s deserving of that label. While ER grew out of the sort of casual racism she was brought up with, FDR never evolved. She was seen as nagging, but she was behind most of his accomplishments.
At 720 pages, this bio requires commitment, but it’s worth it. Michaelis’s prose is very readable, and the list of people is helpful. I laughed when I read his description of John Foster Dulles as “vinegar faced.” I used to work at an archival repository with many JFD images and I can think of no better description of his visage.
It was surprising how many parallels could be drawn to today’s administration. The democrats of the early-mid twentieth century were hardly saints, but had some concept of public service. My only complaint about the book was Adlai Stevenson received little attention. #Eleanor #NetGalley #DavidMichaelis
November 27, 2020
Outstanding, well written biography of Eleanor Roosevelt. It glides easily from her birth to her death in a smooth thorough manner. I found it beautifully written. The author says he met her when he was 4 years old. His mother worked at a TV station where Eleanor had a show, Prospects of Mankind. He again ran into her work while studying about Charles Shultz, his biography subject at the time. At United Feature Syndicate, looking forward Charles Shultz comics in the files, he came across a box of articles once published by Eleanor Roosevelt in a feature called “My Day”. So after Schultz, he concentrated on Eleanor’s life. I can’t complement this author’s writing enough, it’s excellent and he brings Eleanor’s life into clarity and comprehension.
January 15, 2021
What a thoroughly researched and well-written book about one of the most interesting women in recent history. In her own way, Eleanor Roosevelt was as much a force to be reckoned with as was her husband, President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
August 12, 2020
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I’ve read about sixty books on the various Roosevelts. Some were very good, like volume 1 of Blanche Weisen Cook’s Trilogy of Eleanor books, and some were just okay, like the books written by her children and grandchildren. So how did Eleanor by David Michaelis stack up?
According to the publisher, Eleanor is the first biography in six decades to talk about Eleanor Roosevelt’s whole life, from cradle to grave. I can attest to that. So many books about Eleanor end in 1945 when Franklin dies, as if the last, and I think, the most important years of her life, didn’t exist.
Eleanor was thoroughly researched and it shows. The book is 30% footnotes! From her difficult childhood with a beautiful, yet remote mother who dies when Eleanor is 8, to the beloved father, whose mental collapse and alcoholism kills him when Eleanor is 10, to her death in 1962, Michaelis has it all here.
Some of the quotes from letters just get to me. Like when Franklin and Eleanor are to wed, Theodore Roosevelt writes to Franklin about how the love of two people is more important than even the Presidency. Too bad Uncle Ted was wrong about Eleanor and Franklin’s relationship.
The problem was, Franklin didn’t like to confide in anyone, not especially Eleanor. He was aloof from everyone, even those he considered friends. Eleanor would spend much of the next fifteen years learning to accept that Franklin was not going to open up to her because it was not in his nature. The big takeaway here, as mentioned in the book several times, is that Eleanor and Franklin could not relax around one another.
Part of the problem was that Eleanor didn’t think too highly of herself. The woman who is famously quoted as saying “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent” long practiced this. She had terrible self-esteem problems. Married to a man who wouldn’t confide in her, having a mother-in-law take charge of her household. Yet she soldiered on, even after having six children in ten years, even after Franklin was caught stepping out with Eleanor’s own social secretary.
One thing I thought Michaelis did well in Eleanor was show how she evolved. She was raised with the same bigoted ideas that many elitist families grew up with. But the author then shows her growth and acceptance, and finally, her fight for the disenfranchised, the downtrodden, those who did not have voices, or whose voices had been silenced too long.
Eleanor’s special friendships are explored, and there is no salaciousness to them, just documenting what was known about them without further speculation.
Eleanor’s work post-White House gets its due. Her work with the United Nations on a Declaration of Human Rights, her TV program, her continued work on her newspaper column My Day, her work for the Democratic Party in the elections of 1952, 1956 and 1960 are all written about by Michaelis.
No stone was left unturned for this in-depth biography of Eleanor Roosevelt. Eleanor is a 5-star book.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this Advanced Reader’s Copy. Eleanor goes on sale to the general public October 6, 2020.
I’ve read about sixty books on the various Roosevelts. Some were very good, like volume 1 of Blanche Weisen Cook’s Trilogy of Eleanor books, and some were just okay, like the books written by her children and grandchildren. So how did Eleanor by David Michaelis stack up?
According to the publisher, Eleanor is the first biography in six decades to talk about Eleanor Roosevelt’s whole life, from cradle to grave. I can attest to that. So many books about Eleanor end in 1945 when Franklin dies, as if the last, and I think, the most important years of her life, didn’t exist.
Eleanor was thoroughly researched and it shows. The book is 30% footnotes! From her difficult childhood with a beautiful, yet remote mother who dies when Eleanor is 8, to the beloved father, whose mental collapse and alcoholism kills him when Eleanor is 10, to her death in 1962, Michaelis has it all here.
Some of the quotes from letters just get to me. Like when Franklin and Eleanor are to wed, Theodore Roosevelt writes to Franklin about how the love of two people is more important than even the Presidency. Too bad Uncle Ted was wrong about Eleanor and Franklin’s relationship.
The problem was, Franklin didn’t like to confide in anyone, not especially Eleanor. He was aloof from everyone, even those he considered friends. Eleanor would spend much of the next fifteen years learning to accept that Franklin was not going to open up to her because it was not in his nature. The big takeaway here, as mentioned in the book several times, is that Eleanor and Franklin could not relax around one another.
Part of the problem was that Eleanor didn’t think too highly of herself. The woman who is famously quoted as saying “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent” long practiced this. She had terrible self-esteem problems. Married to a man who wouldn’t confide in her, having a mother-in-law take charge of her household. Yet she soldiered on, even after having six children in ten years, even after Franklin was caught stepping out with Eleanor’s own social secretary.
One thing I thought Michaelis did well in Eleanor was show how she evolved. She was raised with the same bigoted ideas that many elitist families grew up with. But the author then shows her growth and acceptance, and finally, her fight for the disenfranchised, the downtrodden, those who did not have voices, or whose voices had been silenced too long.
Eleanor’s special friendships are explored, and there is no salaciousness to them, just documenting what was known about them without further speculation.
Eleanor’s work post-White House gets its due. Her work with the United Nations on a Declaration of Human Rights, her TV program, her continued work on her newspaper column My Day, her work for the Democratic Party in the elections of 1952, 1956 and 1960 are all written about by Michaelis.
No stone was left unturned for this in-depth biography of Eleanor Roosevelt. Eleanor is a 5-star book.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this Advanced Reader’s Copy. Eleanor goes on sale to the general public October 6, 2020.
July 28, 2022
The sixty years following Eleanor Roosevelt’s death seem to have rendered her simultaneously legendary and uncontroversial, inevitable and heroic but also curiously flattened. Changing times have removed her glamor and her sharpness from us.
The truth is, as Michaelis’s new biography points out, Eleanor Roosevelt was anything but inevitable, and the historic reverence with which we regard her was hard, if unconcerningly, won. She was born and raised a fearful, unloved child; she was actually considered, in her teens and throughout her time in the White House, as really lovely; and the role she played - of an activist, outspoken, supremely moral First Lady - was totally new and sometimes unpalatable to the country.
Michaelis has a tough job in this short biography. (Often, I found it too short - I felt he left out portions and points of view). There is so much we know about ER but so little understanding seems to lie in popular history. He does a good job unpacking a horrible, Dickensian childhood. He often belabors the point here, but perhaps the point is, like many of us, Eleanor’s childhood scars formed her lifelong wounds and ways of interacting with the world. He takes us through her gradual maturation and then her courtship and marriage to FDR, the birth of her children, then FDR’s illness. The inevitable biography follows: polio, recovery, politics.
The truth about those points is that the biography is FDR’s, and Eleanor follows, as any woman of the time did. Eleanor’s story is inextricable from FDR’s, in part because of her time, and in part because she shaped her activist persona for his political needs - he could not inspect hospitals, so she did, and she was good at it.
But through these points, as well as through earlier Roosevelt family history (Oyster Bay side especially) Michaelis makes the double-edged choice to often gloss over FDR and focus on Eleanor. He skips and mumbles over the 20th century highlights to talk briefly about Eleanor’s reaction to them, or her work instead. This is in part wonderful, because while Eleanor was uniquely positioned at the marrow of history, she also had her own story. To talk about the major events that shaped her life is to focus the big names and dates of World War II, of FDR, of Churchill. So Michaelis blurs through these and focuses more on Eleanor’s thoughts and actions, her relationships and her separate work, her sorrows and her growing sense of self. The caveat here is that if you don’t know the history, you may feel like you’re only getting half the story - which you are. Even if you know the history, it feels curiously anti-climatic at parts. Eleanor was incredible on her own, but she was still FDR’s wife and you can’t tell her White House story without spending a little more time on FDR.
But on the subject of FDR, Michaelis covers her post-FDR years very well. These were the years in which Eleanor could have retreated into private life. Instead, she did what no one expected and certainly what the major male figures did not respect at first: she became a sort of global conscience, and she did it realistically, modestly, and cleverly, and earned many of her critics’ praise and the world’s admiration. In Michaelis’s telling, her role as FDR’s wife and First Lady brought her to the American stage; after his death, she earned her place as a citizen of the world.
Michaelis develops Eleanor very fully for us, especially vis-a-vis her childhood and her father - a relationship that shaped the painful role she played with men from Franklin to her end of life doctor, whom she loved and suffered for. He shows her clearly as a conventional and revolutionary figure, and in doing so makes her all the more extraordinary. Eleanor was born in the late Victorian era, and expected to be little more than ornamental. When she came to the White House, there were no activist First Ladies. First Ladies had never flown in airplanes; they did not tour factories stirring stove pots and did not go down mine shafts and write columns and drive their own cars, and they did not make political speeches and go into active war zones. It was Eleanor, after all, who first addressed the nation after Pearl Harbor. She smashed barriers and expectations and opinions - including her own - and never stopped moving, never stopped giving, except to herself. All this, from a woman who saw the vote given to the ladies in her lifetime, and at first was not sure she wanted it. Surrounded by a racist society, she could be offensive, even racist, and yet she grew drastically as a person and fought - when few others did - for what was right.
Michaelis’s portrait is well-written, often beautiful, and very often painful. I thought this was a fresh take on someone who’s passed into canon - a book that serves to remind us that she was no ordinary person. Michaelis tries to be too original sometimes, and skips around in time, and ultimately loses the narrative thread. Perhaps this abbreviation is inevitable; I’m not sure it’s possible to cover Eleanor fully in a single volume. Overall, though, this book gives Eleanor her due.
The truth is, as Michaelis’s new biography points out, Eleanor Roosevelt was anything but inevitable, and the historic reverence with which we regard her was hard, if unconcerningly, won. She was born and raised a fearful, unloved child; she was actually considered, in her teens and throughout her time in the White House, as really lovely; and the role she played - of an activist, outspoken, supremely moral First Lady - was totally new and sometimes unpalatable to the country.
Michaelis has a tough job in this short biography. (Often, I found it too short - I felt he left out portions and points of view). There is so much we know about ER but so little understanding seems to lie in popular history. He does a good job unpacking a horrible, Dickensian childhood. He often belabors the point here, but perhaps the point is, like many of us, Eleanor’s childhood scars formed her lifelong wounds and ways of interacting with the world. He takes us through her gradual maturation and then her courtship and marriage to FDR, the birth of her children, then FDR’s illness. The inevitable biography follows: polio, recovery, politics.
The truth about those points is that the biography is FDR’s, and Eleanor follows, as any woman of the time did. Eleanor’s story is inextricable from FDR’s, in part because of her time, and in part because she shaped her activist persona for his political needs - he could not inspect hospitals, so she did, and she was good at it.
But through these points, as well as through earlier Roosevelt family history (Oyster Bay side especially) Michaelis makes the double-edged choice to often gloss over FDR and focus on Eleanor. He skips and mumbles over the 20th century highlights to talk briefly about Eleanor’s reaction to them, or her work instead. This is in part wonderful, because while Eleanor was uniquely positioned at the marrow of history, she also had her own story. To talk about the major events that shaped her life is to focus the big names and dates of World War II, of FDR, of Churchill. So Michaelis blurs through these and focuses more on Eleanor’s thoughts and actions, her relationships and her separate work, her sorrows and her growing sense of self. The caveat here is that if you don’t know the history, you may feel like you’re only getting half the story - which you are. Even if you know the history, it feels curiously anti-climatic at parts. Eleanor was incredible on her own, but she was still FDR’s wife and you can’t tell her White House story without spending a little more time on FDR.
But on the subject of FDR, Michaelis covers her post-FDR years very well. These were the years in which Eleanor could have retreated into private life. Instead, she did what no one expected and certainly what the major male figures did not respect at first: she became a sort of global conscience, and she did it realistically, modestly, and cleverly, and earned many of her critics’ praise and the world’s admiration. In Michaelis’s telling, her role as FDR’s wife and First Lady brought her to the American stage; after his death, she earned her place as a citizen of the world.
Michaelis develops Eleanor very fully for us, especially vis-a-vis her childhood and her father - a relationship that shaped the painful role she played with men from Franklin to her end of life doctor, whom she loved and suffered for. He shows her clearly as a conventional and revolutionary figure, and in doing so makes her all the more extraordinary. Eleanor was born in the late Victorian era, and expected to be little more than ornamental. When she came to the White House, there were no activist First Ladies. First Ladies had never flown in airplanes; they did not tour factories stirring stove pots and did not go down mine shafts and write columns and drive their own cars, and they did not make political speeches and go into active war zones. It was Eleanor, after all, who first addressed the nation after Pearl Harbor. She smashed barriers and expectations and opinions - including her own - and never stopped moving, never stopped giving, except to herself. All this, from a woman who saw the vote given to the ladies in her lifetime, and at first was not sure she wanted it. Surrounded by a racist society, she could be offensive, even racist, and yet she grew drastically as a person and fought - when few others did - for what was right.
Michaelis’s portrait is well-written, often beautiful, and very often painful. I thought this was a fresh take on someone who’s passed into canon - a book that serves to remind us that she was no ordinary person. Michaelis tries to be too original sometimes, and skips around in time, and ultimately loses the narrative thread. Perhaps this abbreviation is inevitable; I’m not sure it’s possible to cover Eleanor fully in a single volume. Overall, though, this book gives Eleanor her due.
January 23, 2021
Eleanor's evolution from poor little rich girl to iconic humanist is inspirational and fascinating. However, this book needs some serious editing. On page after page, Michaelis seems unable to decide how to refer to anyone in the story. A single paragraph will refer to FDR's mother as Sara, SDR, Sallie, and Mama. Single sentences refer to Eleanor by her first name and then by her initials ER. This is confusing and irritating in a lengthy biography. He also hopscotches around from event to event, so one chapter ends with FDR's victory in the NYS gubernatorial race. The next chapter begins with his first presidential win. He doesn't identify places adequately, assuming, it seems, that everyone knows what and where Groton is or that Locust Valley is near Oyster Bay on Long Island, to mention just a couple of examples. On the other hand, there were many unfortunate parallels in terms of racism and rebellion between her time and ours, that I am glad to have been made aware of.
February 11, 2021
Excellent, very readable bio. I have always admired Eleanor but my admiration for her intelligence, compassion, and ability to get things done has only increased after this book. She overcame so many tragedies, which only increased her strength, yet she still retained that human craving to be loved and needed. Highly recommend.
November 26, 2020
An important and comprehensive work about the life of one of the most significant women of the 20th Century, which explores in detail her early and difficult family life, her troubled marriage, her extraordinary and consequential partnership with her husband, her subsequent solo career, and her extramarital relationships.
However, throughout the book I felt a keen need for better editing, with respect to both storytelling and diction. It read to me like a very long senior college thesis. It is largely told chronologically, which limits some of what might have been better explored through a more thematic telling. Furthermore, he periodically inserts seemingly random and out of place events or characters that interrupt his narrative. His word choice and even his grammar could have used a polish.
I enjoyed this read but the editorial clunkiness got in the way.
However, throughout the book I felt a keen need for better editing, with respect to both storytelling and diction. It read to me like a very long senior college thesis. It is largely told chronologically, which limits some of what might have been better explored through a more thematic telling. Furthermore, he periodically inserts seemingly random and out of place events or characters that interrupt his narrative. His word choice and even his grammar could have used a polish.
I enjoyed this read but the editorial clunkiness got in the way.
December 22, 2020
This was NOT my favorite Eleanor book. The author left MUCH to be desired. His delivery of "facts" were just innuendos. A really bad jumble of nonsense that taken together gives the reader a half impression of just who Eleanor Roosevelt is/was.
I could not stand the skipping around, the half finished stories (Hick), what happened to some of the most important people in Eleanors life....everything was thrown at the wall and to me, only a quarter of it stuck. What happened to her writers cottage and the females who resided there?
The author has done a great disservice to this lady and to anyone interested in reading about a great lady.
Overall, a jumble of stories not much to tie them all together. too much in a short book.
I could not stand the skipping around, the half finished stories (Hick), what happened to some of the most important people in Eleanors life....everything was thrown at the wall and to me, only a quarter of it stuck. What happened to her writers cottage and the females who resided there?
The author has done a great disservice to this lady and to anyone interested in reading about a great lady.
Overall, a jumble of stories not much to tie them all together. too much in a short book.
March 3, 2021
A fascinating, well researched look at the life of Eleanor Roosevelt. I have to admit that I knew almost nothing about most of her life before reading this book. I knew that she found her voice and worked for causes as a first lady and after, but I didn't know that she was orphaned or what she experienced growing up. This book does a good job of showing her as a complex individual. Like all of us she had flaws as well as strengths. She fought for and wanted equality, but at the same time believed some of the racist stereotypes of her day.
She was trying to define the role of the first lady which first ladies still grapple with today. They are not elected but highly scrutinized. If you want to learn more about Eleanor Roosevelt, I recommend reading this book.
She was trying to define the role of the first lady which first ladies still grapple with today. They are not elected but highly scrutinized. If you want to learn more about Eleanor Roosevelt, I recommend reading this book.
January 23, 2021
Very difficult to read. The first few pages are littered with so many characters and footnotes, you must read and then re-read a single paragraph to understand who is who and what they are doing. The author does a disservice to the reader by not concentrating on the main character and not others.
August 3, 2022
The "Roosevelts" are a political Dynasty the likes that we will probably never see again in American history. From the time President Theodore Roosevelt got into politics in the late 1890's, to the time of Eleanor Roosevelt's death in 1962 they were a dominant force whose policies, contributions, and aura were the face of America throughout the world.
Eleanor Roosevelt, who died at seventy-nine, outlived her uncle Teddy, who died at sixty, and her husband FDR, who died at sixty-three. Eleanor was the favorite niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, and if one were to ask who she was most like it was, in my opinion, her uncle Teddy. They possessed limitless amounts of energy, fought tirelessly for progressive causes, and believed that since they were lucky to be born rich they owed their country and the less fortunate much more, and they both left behind a written and oral history of their thoughts and ideas that historians are still and forever finding and reviewing.
David Michaelis biography, "Eleanor," is a comprehensive history of this extraordinary woman whose childhood was anything but normal. Her mother died when she was five years old and her father Elliot, who she adored, died from alcoholism at age fifty. She lived with different relatives and her grandma on her mother's side until her late teens. At a very young age, she possessed many of the prejudices of her relatives calling blacks and Jews by repugnant nicknames, but all this would slowly change as she visited the drenches during World War 1 and sat beside wounded soldiers and it would really take off during the husband's long presidency and never let up. Whereas, her husband lacked empathy, she made up for it in a way that even FDR was hopeless to do anything about it.
She made it known that the internment of Japanese Americans during World War 2 was unconstitutional and Un-American. That the segregated US army represented everything, we as a nation were fighting against in World War 2. She was appalled by the lack of sympathy showed by her husband's administration and both political parties when it came to the Nazi extermination of the Jews, and our country's unwillingness to take in what amounted to nearly nothing when we could have taken in millions of Jews who died in concentration camps.
After her husband's death her crusade for a United Nations that kept countries from going to war was unrelenting if not futile, but that did not stop the Soviet representatives and other countries unfriendly to the US from getting up and applauding this amazing woman's efforts. She fought tirelessly against segregation and the Jim Crow south, for the rights of women and fair wages, and went after Senator Joe McCarthy and his committee on Un-American activities.
What I have written here is just a small part of this woman's life that the author Mr. Michaelis' writes about. He writes about the many intimate relationships her husband had with other women, and in turn, her many intimate relationships while married, and after the passing of FDR. He also writes about the strange relationship between her husband's mother, Sara, and Eleanor.
It's as though she lived three lives and I can honestly say she drastically help transform America for the better and she is undeniably one of the most important Americans our country has ever produced.
Eleanor Roosevelt, who died at seventy-nine, outlived her uncle Teddy, who died at sixty, and her husband FDR, who died at sixty-three. Eleanor was the favorite niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, and if one were to ask who she was most like it was, in my opinion, her uncle Teddy. They possessed limitless amounts of energy, fought tirelessly for progressive causes, and believed that since they were lucky to be born rich they owed their country and the less fortunate much more, and they both left behind a written and oral history of their thoughts and ideas that historians are still and forever finding and reviewing.
David Michaelis biography, "Eleanor," is a comprehensive history of this extraordinary woman whose childhood was anything but normal. Her mother died when she was five years old and her father Elliot, who she adored, died from alcoholism at age fifty. She lived with different relatives and her grandma on her mother's side until her late teens. At a very young age, she possessed many of the prejudices of her relatives calling blacks and Jews by repugnant nicknames, but all this would slowly change as she visited the drenches during World War 1 and sat beside wounded soldiers and it would really take off during the husband's long presidency and never let up. Whereas, her husband lacked empathy, she made up for it in a way that even FDR was hopeless to do anything about it.
She made it known that the internment of Japanese Americans during World War 2 was unconstitutional and Un-American. That the segregated US army represented everything, we as a nation were fighting against in World War 2. She was appalled by the lack of sympathy showed by her husband's administration and both political parties when it came to the Nazi extermination of the Jews, and our country's unwillingness to take in what amounted to nearly nothing when we could have taken in millions of Jews who died in concentration camps.
After her husband's death her crusade for a United Nations that kept countries from going to war was unrelenting if not futile, but that did not stop the Soviet representatives and other countries unfriendly to the US from getting up and applauding this amazing woman's efforts. She fought tirelessly against segregation and the Jim Crow south, for the rights of women and fair wages, and went after Senator Joe McCarthy and his committee on Un-American activities.
What I have written here is just a small part of this woman's life that the author Mr. Michaelis' writes about. He writes about the many intimate relationships her husband had with other women, and in turn, her many intimate relationships while married, and after the passing of FDR. He also writes about the strange relationship between her husband's mother, Sara, and Eleanor.
It's as though she lived three lives and I can honestly say she drastically help transform America for the better and she is undeniably one of the most important Americans our country has ever produced.
January 9, 2022
I've always admired ER without knowing too much about her, really. I came to know more watching Ken Burns' The Roosevelts, and then my interest piqued when I visited Val-Kill this past fall, which is what prompted me to buy this book (which had just come out on paperback).
This was the first book I finished in the new year, and I can't think of a better way to start 2022 than by being wholly inspired by the life of this amazing woman. In a moment where there is great fear and uncertainty about where our country and democracy is headed, we need more lessons from pivotal moments in our past and the leaders who were part of them.
Michaelis provides that and more, weaving together ER's biography and legacy in the face of tragedy, neglect, and persistent inequity. Of course it's easy to shake your head and say that so much hasn't changed, but you also can't read this without feeling a renewed responsibility to protect democracy and your fellow citizen.
This was (clearly) a slow read for me, but that's not to say it's not engaging - I always wanted to come back to it. I had some gripes with timeline and when certain details were shared, but I don't know how much that matters in the long run.
This was the first book I finished in the new year, and I can't think of a better way to start 2022 than by being wholly inspired by the life of this amazing woman. In a moment where there is great fear and uncertainty about where our country and democracy is headed, we need more lessons from pivotal moments in our past and the leaders who were part of them.
Michaelis provides that and more, weaving together ER's biography and legacy in the face of tragedy, neglect, and persistent inequity. Of course it's easy to shake your head and say that so much hasn't changed, but you also can't read this without feeling a renewed responsibility to protect democracy and your fellow citizen.
This was (clearly) a slow read for me, but that's not to say it's not engaging - I always wanted to come back to it. I had some gripes with timeline and when certain details were shared, but I don't know how much that matters in the long run.
March 28, 2024
A well told, well paced, biography of a complicated woman that I greatly admire on the whole.
Michaelis provides an unvarnished look at the child, student, wife, mother, lover, 1st lady, activist, and US delegate to the United Nations. The Roosevelts had a singular and immeasurable impact on the United States and the world, but Eleanor was the real progressive of the family (I would argue the indelible conscience), fighting for individual rights and allowing herself to evolve over time. The most intriguing parts of this book to me were likely the most personal, and that is likely because these areas were the least explored and most likely to be previously misinterpreted. Eleanor was imperfect and while often ahead of time she was nonetheless molded by those times. She was an absolute force.
...“perhaps because much further back I had had to face certain difficulties until I decided to accept the fact that a man must be what he is, life must be lived as it is… and you cannot live at all if you do not learn to adapt yourself to your life as it happens to be.”
Michaelis provides an unvarnished look at the child, student, wife, mother, lover, 1st lady, activist, and US delegate to the United Nations. The Roosevelts had a singular and immeasurable impact on the United States and the world, but Eleanor was the real progressive of the family (I would argue the indelible conscience), fighting for individual rights and allowing herself to evolve over time. The most intriguing parts of this book to me were likely the most personal, and that is likely because these areas were the least explored and most likely to be previously misinterpreted. Eleanor was imperfect and while often ahead of time she was nonetheless molded by those times. She was an absolute force.
March 12, 2023
What an amazing woman. She accomplished so much and dealt with so much. Her personal life was so challenging but she persevered and triumphed. She was not the most attentive and loving mother but her own mom struggled with showing love to her daughter. Eleanor evolved, as she traveled the world, met and talked to people she developed her voice and a vision for our country. he knew how to talk to the average citizen as well as leaders from around the world. She was respected and loved around the world, but of course adored and respected by her countryman. I learned so much, and was struck by how similar the challenges of today mirror the challenges of the past.
September 6, 2021
I really enjoyed this one volume biography of one of my favorites Eleanor Roosevelt. The author does a great job of mixing the personal with the public life and fully explores Eleanor's relationships with family and friends. There were a few times where a bit more context of the history would have been helpful in telling her story, but overall highly recommended.
March 1, 2021
No biography has ever gripped me as much as this one. No review has ever been so difficult to write.
Nicknamed “Granny” by a distant and unfeeling mother, Eleanor Roosevelt dealt with many difficulties of a privileged upbringing: alcoholic father, overbearing/cruel aunts, being shuffled from one boarding school to another where children either ignored or mocked her.
She married her distant cousin Franklin who although matched in intelligence, treated her as a schoolmarm and cheated on her repeatedly.
“Their bond was more like the war itself: lines frozen, an unbreachable gap widening between what each wanted and what the other could give.”
Let me just state: FDR and Eleanor are worth more than their relationship to each other. They are complicated people with a complicated legacy. However the more I read, the more I began to think how different history would’ve been if they’d separated before FDR had made his bid for Senate, when he’d had his affair with Eleanor’s secretary. What would America have looked like?
All this to say, they were each a product of their time. Prejudices were embedded deep: distrustful of Jews and Catholics, dismissive of “darkies” (as Eleanor referenced Black people in her letters) and even up to a point fought against the suffrage movement. However, this was an excellent (and thorough) look at a woman who evolved and learned as she continued her life, how she worked to change those prejudices and the world around her while, unfortunately, it seems her husband stayed stuck in his ways for most of his life. Once Eleanor and FDR were in office, she disagreed with him, very vocally, about numerous actions he took and pieces of legislation (specifically Executive Order 9066 which interred thousands of Japanese-American citizens in internment camps).
She worked closely with the NAACP in her life, was a champion of the opera singer Marian Anderson, used her weekly radio show to speak to the nation, explaining what was happening in the country and was vocal in pointing out how the New Deal programs had been discriminatory against African-Americans.
She was the first to inform the nation of Pearl Harbor, she spoke out against Hitler and condemned McCarthyism later in her life and was instrumental in carrying on the vision her husband had for the U. N.
Just reflecting on politics today and seeing so many blatant similarities (political, socio-economic) made me really take stock of our country - the good and the bad. An excellently written, engaging biography that I look forward to reading again.
Nicknamed “Granny” by a distant and unfeeling mother, Eleanor Roosevelt dealt with many difficulties of a privileged upbringing: alcoholic father, overbearing/cruel aunts, being shuffled from one boarding school to another where children either ignored or mocked her.
She married her distant cousin Franklin who although matched in intelligence, treated her as a schoolmarm and cheated on her repeatedly.
“Their bond was more like the war itself: lines frozen, an unbreachable gap widening between what each wanted and what the other could give.”
Let me just state: FDR and Eleanor are worth more than their relationship to each other. They are complicated people with a complicated legacy. However the more I read, the more I began to think how different history would’ve been if they’d separated before FDR had made his bid for Senate, when he’d had his affair with Eleanor’s secretary. What would America have looked like?
All this to say, they were each a product of their time. Prejudices were embedded deep: distrustful of Jews and Catholics, dismissive of “darkies” (as Eleanor referenced Black people in her letters) and even up to a point fought against the suffrage movement. However, this was an excellent (and thorough) look at a woman who evolved and learned as she continued her life, how she worked to change those prejudices and the world around her while, unfortunately, it seems her husband stayed stuck in his ways for most of his life. Once Eleanor and FDR were in office, she disagreed with him, very vocally, about numerous actions he took and pieces of legislation (specifically Executive Order 9066 which interred thousands of Japanese-American citizens in internment camps).
She worked closely with the NAACP in her life, was a champion of the opera singer Marian Anderson, used her weekly radio show to speak to the nation, explaining what was happening in the country and was vocal in pointing out how the New Deal programs had been discriminatory against African-Americans.
She was the first to inform the nation of Pearl Harbor, she spoke out against Hitler and condemned McCarthyism later in her life and was instrumental in carrying on the vision her husband had for the U. N.
Just reflecting on politics today and seeing so many blatant similarities (political, socio-economic) made me really take stock of our country - the good and the bad. An excellently written, engaging biography that I look forward to reading again.
January 1, 2021
This book was a worthwhile and entertaining read for several reasons. Underpinning them all was its revealing new information about the Roosevelt family’s less appealing traits, such as Teddy’s xenophobia, Eleanor’s cousin’s cruelty in describing the demise of Eleanor’s father in gruesome detail, Eleanor’s progression from an anti-Semite and racist to a human rights pioneer, to Franklin’s tendency to use people and his undeniable biases against minorities. Also very interesting were the frank statements about Eleanor’s amorous adventures with both her bodyguard and Lorena Hickock. In addition, this book was extraordinarily critical of the character of Dr. David Gurewitz, Eleanor’s last love who used her status and adoration to enhance his standing while giving very little of value in return and even denying her the peaceful demise she trusted him to guarantee for reasons that served his ego and prolonged her agony. I learned to admire Eleanor in this book, after years of seeing her as a prissy and annoying do gooder—even though I always agreed about the good she was doing. This book explains how courageous, open-minded, and kind she was. She needed to be needed more than anything. And that served society well as she forged a path for women in state, national, and international political realms. It was a valuable and refreshing experience to read “real” history of race relations, social and economic problems, and the disgraceful example set by US bigots for the Nazis instead of the prettied up versions that have been fed to us so far. We need more history like this to inform us about where we really have come from in the US. My only criticism of the book that it seemed to gloss over much of Eleanor's life during the White House and post-White House years in comparison to the laudably detailed exploration of the years leading up to that time.
January 1, 2021
If you're hoping for an interesting book about the fascinating person that is Eleanor Roosevelt, this is not the book for you.
If you're interested in learning about every single person that ever crossed paths with Eleanor Roosevelt, specifically her father and every detail of his life and substance abuse That is repeated and droned on for hours, then congratulations you found your book. What an amazing talent the writer must have to take such a fascinating interesting woman from history and create such a bland boring and terribly written book about her. Does the writer even like Eleanor Roosevelt?
If you're interested in learning about every single person that ever crossed paths with Eleanor Roosevelt, specifically her father and every detail of his life and substance abuse That is repeated and droned on for hours, then congratulations you found your book. What an amazing talent the writer must have to take such a fascinating interesting woman from history and create such a bland boring and terribly written book about her. Does the writer even like Eleanor Roosevelt?
August 11, 2021
Although Eleanor Roosevelt had a very interesting life and I was anxious to read this book, I only got through 200 pages of the 550. The facts are accurate, but the writing put me to sleep 😴.
June 23, 2022
I write this review while we are amid Congressional Hearing on the January 6, 2021, insurrection. We are in a very tumultuous times politically speaking and without the lens of history it is easy to think that this time is as bad as it gets. Yes, it’s bad but there have been far worse times.
Born into the strictures of upper-class white womanhood, Eleanor was conversant with and adjacent to political power from an early age. Born to a critical mother and an affectionate, but alcoholic. Her mother was consumed with keeping up appearances, which led to constant mockery of the young Eleanor. The author aptly describes the strained dynamics of the painful mother - daughter relationship.
Both parents and a brother died by the time Eleanor she was 10. No doubt, that tragedy early in life steeled her for more to come, including her mother-in-law’s disdain, the ambitions of her husband. This explores Eleanor’s personal and political longings, frustrations with her husband and her fury at his indiscretions, and her own loves. Eleanor found her purpose through duty, arduous work and sometimes punishing overachievement. Longing to be the center of one person’s love, she settled instead for the larger, public love of a generation as she wrote, traveled, and agitated to change the world. The author does a tremendous job explaining how Eleanor’s struggles for justice had limits, drawn not only by her grudging acceptance of a political spouse’s role, but also through the limitations of her race and class.
There is no sugarcoating or explaining away the racism and xenophobia of the age, including FDR’s use of the N-word and comfort with segregation, as well as the well-documented anti-Asian racism undergirding the internment of Japanese citizens during the war. It shows us how strong Elenor was and what she had to battle against. Her commitment to global citizenship and human rights served to mirror some white activists in her era and perhaps ours. They find the courage to fight for human rights and dignity in the far corners of the globe yet sometimes choke at the exact moment when their courage could be most effective. She found herself in full command of the symbolic gesture – making it possible for Marian Anderson to sing on the steps of the Lincoln memorial and resigning from the Daughters of the American Revolution but refusing to attend the concert herself, at a moment when such a symbolic gesture might have made a greater difference.
The book is outstanding at outlining Eleanor’s grueling work to bring to fruition the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that the country’s domestic deficiencies during and after FDR’s presidency.
Some critics accuse biographers of as unfair in imposing contemporary social values on far more narrow historic times. This biography does a wonderful job in describing the striving for and the validity of those moments in history. We see it in this biography as Eleanor moves herself, from anti-suffrage to women’s rights advocate; from patronizing white woman, immersed in Washington’s segregated life with bigots on every side, to frustrated champion of desegregation in the face of her husband’s racism; to tolerant globalist, seeing only dimly her country’s broken promises abroad as well as at home.
Quotes:
“Mankind can be wiped off the face of the earth by the action of any comparatively small group of people. So, it would seem that if we care to survive, we must progress in our social and economic development far more rapidly than we have done in the past.”
“One hour of going to see things with your own eyes is more worthwhile than twenty hours of talking about things.”
“Perhaps because much further back I had had to face certain difficulties until I decided to accept the fact that a man must be what he is, life must be lived as it is… and you cannot live at all if you do not learn to adapt yourself to your life as it happens to be.”
Born into the strictures of upper-class white womanhood, Eleanor was conversant with and adjacent to political power from an early age. Born to a critical mother and an affectionate, but alcoholic. Her mother was consumed with keeping up appearances, which led to constant mockery of the young Eleanor. The author aptly describes the strained dynamics of the painful mother - daughter relationship.
Both parents and a brother died by the time Eleanor she was 10. No doubt, that tragedy early in life steeled her for more to come, including her mother-in-law’s disdain, the ambitions of her husband. This explores Eleanor’s personal and political longings, frustrations with her husband and her fury at his indiscretions, and her own loves. Eleanor found her purpose through duty, arduous work and sometimes punishing overachievement. Longing to be the center of one person’s love, she settled instead for the larger, public love of a generation as she wrote, traveled, and agitated to change the world. The author does a tremendous job explaining how Eleanor’s struggles for justice had limits, drawn not only by her grudging acceptance of a political spouse’s role, but also through the limitations of her race and class.
There is no sugarcoating or explaining away the racism and xenophobia of the age, including FDR’s use of the N-word and comfort with segregation, as well as the well-documented anti-Asian racism undergirding the internment of Japanese citizens during the war. It shows us how strong Elenor was and what she had to battle against. Her commitment to global citizenship and human rights served to mirror some white activists in her era and perhaps ours. They find the courage to fight for human rights and dignity in the far corners of the globe yet sometimes choke at the exact moment when their courage could be most effective. She found herself in full command of the symbolic gesture – making it possible for Marian Anderson to sing on the steps of the Lincoln memorial and resigning from the Daughters of the American Revolution but refusing to attend the concert herself, at a moment when such a symbolic gesture might have made a greater difference.
The book is outstanding at outlining Eleanor’s grueling work to bring to fruition the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that the country’s domestic deficiencies during and after FDR’s presidency.
Some critics accuse biographers of as unfair in imposing contemporary social values on far more narrow historic times. This biography does a wonderful job in describing the striving for and the validity of those moments in history. We see it in this biography as Eleanor moves herself, from anti-suffrage to women’s rights advocate; from patronizing white woman, immersed in Washington’s segregated life with bigots on every side, to frustrated champion of desegregation in the face of her husband’s racism; to tolerant globalist, seeing only dimly her country’s broken promises abroad as well as at home.
Quotes:
“Mankind can be wiped off the face of the earth by the action of any comparatively small group of people. So, it would seem that if we care to survive, we must progress in our social and economic development far more rapidly than we have done in the past.”
“One hour of going to see things with your own eyes is more worthwhile than twenty hours of talking about things.”
“Perhaps because much further back I had had to face certain difficulties until I decided to accept the fact that a man must be what he is, life must be lived as it is… and you cannot live at all if you do not learn to adapt yourself to your life as it happens to be.”
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