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


The New York Times Book Review, Maureen Dowd
Though she immoderately admires her subject, Cook details her frosty side--"When her clear blue eyes turned to ice, warmth drained from the very walls of the room"--and finds some flaws.


Entertainment Weekly, Megan Harlan
...excitement fuels these pages, especially since Cook never simplifies the trials and triumphs that shaped her progressive vision.


From Booklist
Readers who enjoyed the award-winning first volume of Cook's biography of Eleanor Roosevelt may have expected just one other volume after all these years (the first published in 1992); if so, they underestimated both Cook, a City University of New York history professor, and her remarkable subject. Volume 2 covers just six years: the first years of FDR's presidency. At this rate, one can easily imagine at least two more volumes: one on the war years, ending with Franklin's death in 1945, and a second on Eleanor's very active life after the White House. ER went to Washington with doubts and concerns: Would she be able to play a role in the critical issues that had given her life meaning, or would she be forced to serve simply as hostess and housekeeper? Cook traces the ways Roosevelt continued to exercise influence: on housing, race, and women's issues, for example. A major concern here is why both Roosevelts were largely silent about Germany's treatment of its Jewish citizens; Cook examines what the Roosevelts knew and when, and she notes that FDR and his staff did not object to Eleanor expressing her views on domestic matters that conflicted with administration policy, but they severely restricted her speeches and articles on foreign policy subjects. Full of fascinating details; expect requests. Mary Carroll


From Kirkus Reviews
In this second volume of her outstanding biography, Cook (History and Womens Studies/CUNY) continues her feminist celebration of Eleanor Roosevelt as the woman who was the conscience of both her husband and country in these seminal years. These are the years that vindicate Mrs. Roosevelt's activism (by 1938 she was more popular than FDR) but also mark the further deterioration of their marriage as she became increasingly isolated from the president and his inner circle. Cook again details the remarkable energy and dedication Eleanor brought to fighting for her ideals, as well as the heartaches her family caused her. Her long and close relationship with journalist Lorena Hickok was also strained by her busy schedule and multiple commitments. Though much of her communication with FDR was via notes she dropped in the basket kept next to his bed, they were all thoughtful, researched, and, when he saw fit, used by him. She fought for Social Security, for the WPA programs, for women to play a greater role in government and in the Democratic Party, for racial integration, for peace, and then, as war seemed inevitable in Europe, for ways of resisting Hitler and helping the Jews. Cook is particularly devastating on FDR's long silence on the plight of European Jews: he actually sent a celebratory message to a 1934 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden at which swastikas flew alongside the Stars and Stripes. And right up to 1938 he remained silent about Hitler's human rights abuses and did not end trade with Germany. He was as reluctant to support an antilynching bill Eleanor supported. The volume ends as FDR begins re-arming, while Eleanor, working with youth and black organizations, accelerates the fight against fascism and racism. A masterful assemblage of facts and insights that illuminate a great woman's life but sometimes at the expense of the great man who was her husband and whose political instinctsdespite his inherent cautionwere sometimes more sure. (16 pages photos) (Book-of-the-Month Club and History Book Club selection) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
Historians, politicians, feminists, critics, and reviewers everywhere have praised Blanche Wiesen Cook's monumental Eleanor Roosevelt as the definitive portrait of this towering female figure of the twentieth century. Now in her long-awaited, majestic second volume, Cook takes readers through the 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.

"Fascinating . . . Cook's portrait of a woman in the thick of things during the hardest of times . . . will stand as definitive." --The Washington Post

"Engrossing . . . Cook is especially good at probing Roosevelt's psychological state and explaining her many complex relationships with friends and family."--The Boston Sunday Globe (front page)

"Cook gets at the tender, sprightly creature behind the starchy, strident image." --Maureen Dowd, The New York Times Book Review (front page)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Historians, politicians, feminists, critics, and reviewers everywhere have praised Blanche Wiesen Cook's monumental Eleanor Roosevelt as the definitive portrait of this towering female figure of the twentieth century. Now in her long-awaited, majestic second volume, Cook takes readers through the 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.

"Fascinating . . . Cook's portrait of a woman in the thick of things during the hardest of times . . . will stand as definitive." --The Washington Post

"Engrossing . . . Cook is especially good at probing Roosevelt's psychological state and explaining her many complex relationships with friends and family."--The Boston Sunday Globe (front page)

"Cook gets at the tender, sprightly creature behind the starchy, strident image." --Maureen Dowd, The New York Times Book Review (front page)

Blanche Wiesen Cook is Distinguished Professor of History at John Jay College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She is senior editor of the Garland Library of War and Peace, author of Crystal Eastman on Women and Revolution and The Declassified Eisenhower, and is a former vice-president for research at the American Historical Association.

FROM THE CRITICS

Maureen Dowd