A superb dual portrait of the 32nd President and his First Lady,
whose extraordinary partnership steered the nation through the
perilous WW II years. In the period covered by this biography, 1940
through Franklin's death in 1949, FDR was elected to unprecedented
third and fourth terms and nudged the country away from
isolationism into war. It is by now a given that Eleanor was not
only an indispensable adviser to this ebullient, masterful
statesman, but a political force in her own right. More than most
recent historians, however, Goodwin (The Fitzgeralds and the
Kennedys, 1987) is uncommonly sensitive to their complex
relationship's shifting undercurrents, which ranged from deep
mutual respect to lingering alienation caused by FDR's infidelity.
One element creating tension was tactical politics: FDR, seeing
increased arms production as crucial to the war effort, sought to
close the divide between businessmen and his administration, while
Eleanor prodded him not to forget about labor, civil rights, and
Jewish refugees. As grateful as he was to her for acting as his
political eyes and ears, Franklin also could react testily to her
unremitting lobbying at times when he desperately needed relief
from the strains of running the war effort. Equally fascinating
here are the often semi-permanent White House guests who filled the
couple's "untended needs": their daughter and four sons; FDR alter
ego Harry Hopkins, shaking off grave illness to go on critical
diplomatic missions; Franklin's secretary Missy LeHand, prevented
by a stroke from serving the man she loved; exiled Princess Martha
of Norway, who gave Franklin the unqualified affection of which
Eleanor was incapable; two of Eleanor's confidantes, future
biographer Joe Lash and the lesbian ex-journalist Lorena Hickok;
and Winston Churchill. A moving drama of patchwork intimacy in the
White House, played out against the sweeping tableau of the nation
rallying behind a great crusade. (Kirkus Reviews)
No Ordinary Time is a monumental work, a brilliantly conceived chronicle of one of the most vibrant and revolutionary periods in the history of the United States. With an extraordinary collection of details, Goodwin masterfully weaves together a striking number of story lines--Eleanor and Franklin's marriage and remarkable partnership, Eleanor's life as First Lady, and FDR's White House and its impact on America as well as on a world at war. Goodwin effectively melds these details and stories into an unforgettable and intimate portrait of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt and of the time during which a new, modern America was born.
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