Eleanor

De: David Michaelis

Narrado por: Gabra Zackman

The New York Times best seller from prize-winning 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 her 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 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.

This “absolutely spellbinding,” (The Washington Post) “complex and sensitive portrait” (The Guardian) is not just a comprehensive biography of a major American figure, but the story of an American ideal: 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.

©2020 David Michaelis (P)2020 Simon & Schuster Audio

I could not get past..

Narrator’s voice was pleasant. The book is well-paced. I could not get past the narrator’s pronunciation of “Eleanor” and “Ellener”. I found it grating and distracting. Silly, perhaps, but it ruined the book for me; I couldn’t bear it past chapter three.

Great Insights into a Fascinating Woman

There was no way that this book wouldn't be captivating because the subject is so complex. The delivery was empathetic and really provided a balanced biographical account of her life without the temptation to turn the book into a form of hero worship. No matter how easy she made it look, Mrs. Roosevelt's life was one of pain, joy and struggle.

Entertaining and knowledgeable

I loved it gave me great insight into a great lady. narratior did a nice job

The power of one woman

I enjoyed the entire book. She was an inspiration to all women everywhere. She is still a very important part of history.

history comes alive. excellent

well written
shows many parallels that we wrestle with today, on the political front
powerful woman
huge heart

Awe Inspiring

Wonderful telling of this ladies life. I feel like I have had a front row seat into this lady’s life.

Greatest First Lady

Eleanor may of had her faults but she grew in to a power to be recon with. Big fan of of the Roosevelts.

Wonderful!

What a great book! I learned so much and enjoyed listening to the history especially about WW2.

Lives lessons of a woman

What a brilliant woman understanding her time in history and her foresight of people.

Improving America

Nicely narrated and chock-full of interesting anecdotes of a shining star in the history of America. Not all is perfection here, but her flaws make her more of a hero in my book than ever before.