The New York Times Book Review - Elaine Showalter
Three-volume biographies of women are extremely rare, so the completion of Blanche Wiesen Cook's monumental and inspirational life of Eleanor Roosevelt is a notable event. And if any American woman deserves such sustained attention, it's surely "the first lady of the world"…It's a tribute to Cook's rich portrait that after three enormous volumes, I still wanted to know more…Eleanor Roosevelt was indeed a luminous beacon of courage and hope; yet the heroine of Cook's grand biography is not the remote icon, but the full-bodied, indomitable woman who welcomed life, as she put it, with "an unquenchable spirit of adventure."
Publishers Weekly
09/19/2016
In the third and concluding volume of this splendid biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, Cook doesn’t have to make a case for her subject. Roosevelt’s life and character do that well enough on their own. If there’s a theme to the volume, it’s the way Roosevelt moved out of her husband’s massive shadow during WWII to live an active, complex, and independent life well before F.D.R.’s death in 1945. All the while, she was part of “one of history’s most powerful and enduring partnerships”—a partnership of “mutual respect and shared commitments”—and she was often F.D.R.’s stand-in, though at other times she was silenced for political or security reasons. Always in Roosevelt’s corner, Cook skillfully weaves her subject’s active and emotional life among friends and family members into the depiction of her public role. The champion of human rights, the anti-Fascist, the foe of anti-Semites, the protector of the ill and infirm, the superb personal diplomat is everywhere in sight, as are Roosevelt’s sometimes-bitter disagreements with, and disappointments in, her husband. If there’s any criticism of this otherwise superb book, it’s that it simply peters out—at the end of these three fine volumes, readers look for and deserve a summation, a rounding-out, and Cook never provides one. Agent: Charlotte Sheedy, Charlotte Sheedy Literary. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
[T]he completion of Blanche Wiesen Cook’s monumental and inspirational life of Eleanor Roosevelt [series] is a notable event. . . . Volume 3 continues the story of Eleanor’s ‘journey to greatness.’ Keeping the focus on her actions and reactions, Cook skillfully narrates the epic history of the war years.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“A monumental biography [and] an exhilarating story, as well as undeniably melancholy one. In her relentless efforts to push American democracy to fulfill its promises, Eleanor Roosevelt was ahead of her time. As we ponder our curdled political culture . . . it’s not at all clear that we have yet caught up to her.”
—Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air
“More than a presidential spouse, however, or feminist icon, the Eleanor Roosevelt who inhabits these meticulously crafted pages transcends both first-lady history and the marriage around which Roosevelt scholarship has traditionally pivoted.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“The final installment in Blanche Wiesen Cook’s trilogy of biographies of Eleanor Roosevelt . . . finds the first lady increasingly comfortable in her own skin. . . . As these remarkable volumes chronicle, Roosevelt found her voice and her calling as an advocate—for peace, women’s rights, and the disadvantaged.”
—O, the Oprah Magazine
“[R]eads like the great history that it is . . . The monumental achievement of this current volume . . . is the rich depiction of the period’s contextual history.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“In the third and final volume of Blanche Wiesen Cook’s magisterial biography of ER . . . [Cook’s] perspective, through ER’s eyes, is vigorous and fresh, the comparisons with our own darkening world subtle and yet potent.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“[A] sweeping and detailed look at the first lady about whom more books have been written than any other, with the exception of Jacqueline Kennedy. . . . Today, she is acclaimed not only as an inspirational first lady of the United States but also of the world—and as one of the 20th century’s great humanitarians. Cook’s trilogy, and this volume in particular, eloquently defines her legacy and its continuing relevance.”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Magisterial . . . Cook captures the headlong energy of those years perfectly. Readers will encounter in these pages an intimate, touchingly human Eleanor Roosevelt—an icon they can both admire and genuinely like.”
—Christian Science Monitor
“[E]xhaustively researched and beautifully written . . . gives us a sympathetic but very human portrait of this ‘First Lady of the World’. . . . Anyone interested in the life of this towering figure in 20th-century history will want to read this book.”
—BookPage
“Illuminating . . . A magnificent capstone to Cook’s decades-long evaluation of Eleanor Roosevelt.”
—BBC.com’s Between the Lines
“[F]ascinating reading, and . . . highlights for students of history how the world has changed since [Eleanor Roosevelt]’s time. And how it has not.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Outstanding . . . A winning concluding volume in a series that does for Eleanor Roosevelt what Robert Caro has done for Lyndon Johnson.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Superb . . . Cook skillfully weaves her subject’s active and emotional life among friends and family members into the depiction of her public role.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Highly readable and richly detailed . . . Cook succeeds in demonstrating how Eleanor’s political ideas regarding human rights, economic insecurity, and the plight of refugees echo today.”
—Library Journal
Library Journal
10/01/2016
General readers and scholars alike will welcome this long-awaited finale to Cook's (history, John Jay Coll., City Univ. of New York; Eleanor Roosevelt: The Defining Years, 1933–1938) massive three-volume portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962). Utilizing family archives, Eleanor's published writings and vast correspondence, and the resources of the Franklin D. Roosevelt library, Cook has penned a highly readable and richly detailed narrative of an accomplished yet controversial first lady. While this entry, which is simultaneously chronological, descriptive, and analytical, begins in the months prior to World War II, an introductory chapter summarizes Eleanor's life for readers who may not be familiar with the details. Here, the focus is on her quest for international peace and justice during World War II and beyond, culminating in her "brilliant diplomacy" that resulted in the passage of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The author presents the political and human side of Eleanor, providing a candid assessment of her marriage to Franklin Roosevelt as well as the nature of her relationships with friends. VERDICT Clearly sympathetic to her subject's ideologies, Cook succeeds in demonstrating how Eleanor's political ideas regarding human rights, economic insecurity, and the plight of refugees echo today. This monumental biography will be enjoyed by a wide readership.—Marie M. Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., NJ
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2016-07-19
Having already devoted more than 1,200 pages to the extraordinary life of Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) in two previous installments, the skilled biographer offers the final volume.Although the third book focuses on the period from 1939 to 1945, Cook (History/John Jay Coll., Graduate Center, CUNY; Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume 2, The Defining Years, 1933-1938, 1999, etc.) also covers the remainder of Roosevelt's meaningful accomplishments and personal relationships until her death in 1962. No hagiographer, the author presents Roosevelt's strained personal relationships, occasional passive-aggressive behavior, moral equivocations due to electoral politics, and other less-than-admirable qualities. Overall, though, Cook shows Roosevelt as empathetic to the less fortunate in both America and overseas, relentlessly optimistic about eventually achieving world peace, courageous in the face of personal danger, and almost superhumanly energetic until her final year. What may resonate most for contemporary readers is Roosevelt's crusade for greater racial harmony. She did not merely offer lip service to racial equality; she modeled it in her friendships and in the issues she promoted to Congress and her husband, despite widespread discrimination against blacks that showed no signs of abating. Cook notes that while outlining the current volume, she chose to develop the metatheme of the first lady obsessing about "race and rescue." Because most of the narrative unfolds during World War II, Cook amply examines Eleanor's efforts to influence the decisions of her husband. The president and Eleanor had to negotiate a rocky personal relationship due to his philandering and her unusual romantic liaisons, but as partners in politics, the mutual respect between them never wavered. The final pages about Eleanor’s postwar activities seem overly telescoped, but that’s a minor quibble in this outstanding work of biography. Cook makes a strong case that her subject is the most influential first lady in American history and even the most influential woman in world affairs since at least 1900. A winning concluding volume in a series that does for Eleanor Roosevelt what Robert Caro has done for Lyndon Johnson.
