Eleanor Roosevelt : Volume 2 , The Defining Years, 1933-1938 - Softcover

Cook, Blanche Wiesen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140178945 ISBN 13: 9780140178944

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2000

Synopsis

The central volume in the definitive biography of America's most important First Lady. "Engrossing" (Boston Globe).

The captivating second volume of this Eleanor Roosevelt biography covers tumultuous era of the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the gathering storms of World War II, the years of the Roosevelts' greatest challenges and finest achievements. In her remarkably engaging narrative, Cook gives us the complete Eleanor Roosevelt—an adventurous, romantic woman, a devoted wife and mother, and a visionary policymaker and social activist who often took unpopular stands, counter to her husband's policies, especially on issues such as racial justice and women's rights. A biography of scholarship and daring, it is a book for all readers of American history.

About this title

Review:

With its gripping tale of a privileged ugly duckling turned socially conscious swan with the help of strong female friends--many of whom were lesbians and one of whom was probably her lover--the first volume of Blanche Wiesen Cook's biography of Eleanor Roosevelt won awards and made headlines. That book followed its subject from her birth in 1884 through her husband Franklin's election to the presidency in 1933. Volume 2, which chronicles Roosevelt's first six years as America's most controversial first lady (Hillary Clinton doesn't even come close), maps her contributions to the New Deal, which Cook convincingly argues was primarily the fulfillment of a political agenda promoted by female reformers as early as 1912. Eleanor's turbulent relationship with journalist Lorena Hickok gets more space here than it probably deserves, and the story isn't as inherently exciting as the first volume's drama of a woman's coming of age. Nonetheless, Cook's subtle analyses of everything from Roosevelt's exceedingly complex marriage to her role as warm-up act for the New Deal's most radical programs are bracingly intelligent, her evocation of a remarkable personality rivetingly vivid. Eleanor emerges as neither the liberals' saint nor the conservatives' Satan, but an entirely human bundle of contradictions: warm-hearted, yet ice-cold when hurt; happiest in the public arena, yet needing the comfort of private relationships. --Wendy Smith

From the Inside Flap:

Here is the long-awaited second volume in Blanche Wiesen Cook's celebrated life of Eleanor Roosevelt. Hailed by David M. Kennedy as "impassioned and sensitive, tender and angry" on the front page of the New York Times Book Review, the first volume was embraced by historians and feminists, reviewers and readers everywhere. "Cook has resurrected a woman who changed the lives of millions," said Abigail McCarthy in the Washington Post.

Volume Two encompasses the monumental era of the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the gathering storms of World War II-the years of the Roosevelts' greatest challenges and accomplishments. Cook restores ER to her place as a visionary policymaker and social activist with her own agenda, often ahead of her more circumspect husband. From the day ER entered the White House -- and began holding press conferences for female journalists only-she worked indefatigably for justice and equality. She wrote, she published, she traveled, she lobbied, she joined grass roots organizations and radical communities with a zeal that sparked controversy everywhere.

Cook gives us the complete Eleanor Roosevelt--a loyal wife, a devoted mother, a woman who courted romance and adventure, America's most compelling, charismatic, and visionary First Lady. 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. And in November 1938, after Kristallnacht, as Europe drifts toward war, she takes an unprecedented and courageous stance on race relations and bigotry.

Intimate, sympathetic and acute, this is an unparalleled portrait of a woman whose life was filled with passionate commitment and who struggled for personal fulfillment. It is a biography of vibrant scholarship and daring, a book for all readers of American history and politics, and, as the New Deal comes under assault today, a book for everyone who cares about a decent future for all people.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0140178945
• ISBN 13: 9780140178944
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 736