⭐⭐⭐⭐
I've loved Eleanor Roosevelt ever since I randomly picked up a
biography of her in elementary school. (That I randomly picked out a
biography to read for fun as a 4th grader tells you a lot of what you
need to know about me as a person.) I've read a lot about her over the
years, but it's been a minute since I read a biography of just her.
(And, confession, I still haven't read Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 3: The War Years and After, 1939-1962. I own it. I just haven't read it.)
In his single-volume biography, simply titled Eleanor, David Michaelis focuses a lot on Eleanor, the person, as opposed to her many accomplishments or events in her life. It veers into being more of a psychological biography; obviously the events of her life are covered, but there's a lot of focus on her relationships and why she relates to people the way she does. There were times, particularly during FDR's presidency, that entire years were skipped with barely a blink. Which honestly wouldn't be an issue, except that Michaelis will mention something in passing that hadn't come up before. In that sense, despite it being a fairly compact biography, it probably wouldn't be great for people who aren't already familiar with the beats of Eleanor's life and FDR's presidency. It does a good job of analysis but isn't a good introduction.
Also, it was a bit weird what relationships he focused on. Obviously Eleanor's relationships with her father and Franklin are the big two. Michaelis writes about ER's relationship with Lorena Hickock, mostly to be like, "It was TOTALLY A SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP!!!" and is clearly using diaries/letters to make that assertion. Which, on the one hand, I get. I definitely remember reading biographies of Eleanor that might obliquely reference her relationship with Hick but be like, "But that's just how ladies of Eleanor's age would write to their friends!" On the other hand, I think it was really just how he wrote it that was weird. I don't know. And he honestly spent a lot less time on Hick than I would expect; ditto Earl Miller, another significant relationship for ER.
I particularly felt that ER's relationship with Marion Dickerman and Nancy Cook really got short shrift. Again, this is another time when he alludes to a falling out and problems in their relationship, but we don't get the details about it (some of which I know from other biographies). These bothered me because Michaelis clearly did a ton of research and I'm sure he knows loads about these various relationships; I just wanted more of them.
He does spend a TON of time on ER's relationship with David Gurewitsch, her doctor/object of affection late in life. (To the detriment, I feel, of Joe Lash, who sort of fades out of the picture after WWII.) I didn't know a ton about him (mostly that he existed, he and his wife shared a house with ER at the end of her life, and she was fond of him), so getting more information was helpful. But it felt like he got too much attention, particularly compared to others in Eleanor's life. I can't tell how significant he actually was because I feel like this was the story Michaelis wanted to tell.
It feels like I'm nitpicking; truth be told, I did quite enjoy this books. Michaelis's affection for Eleanor is clear throughout the book. He sympathizes with her but doesn't shy away from her flaws. He includes a number of pretty awful quotes from her about Jewish and Black people; she became champions for both groups, but certainly wasn't born that way. One of the remarkable things about Eleanor is how she grew into First Lady of the World, into FDR's conscience.
I also appreciated learning more about her time after FDR's death. I read too many books as a kid that had a final chapter (inevitably titled "On Her Own," after ER's memoir, On My Own) about her life after FDR died, usually focused pretty solely on her work with the UN. She did SO. MUCH. MORE. (while FDR was around, too, to be fair) and I love getting the details about it.
Would I recommend this book? Absolutely, though with the caveat that it would be helpful to know some of the details of Eleanor's life already. It's a solid, compact biography of my favorite historical figure.
Key Quotes
Advice from her Auntie Bye, which forever guided her life
"You will never be able to please everyone. No matter what you do, my dear, some people are going to criticize you. ... If you are satisfied in your mind that you are right, then you need never worry about criticism" (p. 82)
On Eleanor's reaction to being hurt (relatable)
"When hurt, she suppressed her feelings, and when anyone tried to come closer, whether to help or to hurt more, her only instrument of resistance was to turn away and sulk" (p. 104)
Eleanor trying to cope with her own life
"It was almost as though I had erected someone outside myself who was the president's wife. I was lost somewhere deep down inside myself" (p. 383)
"Work had always been her antidote for depression. Loneliness, she maintained, was a state of mind or of the soul and therefore untreatable, simply 'the lot of all human beings.'" (p. 493)
On Franklin and Eleanor
"As a couple, they were foils. He endured her seriousness and intensity as she endured his pranks and swordplay. ... He was not intentionally unkind, but he could be cold; his sense of fun was often cruel; and the more defenseless the victim, the less Franklin could resist the impulse to bully" (p. 107)
"She yearned for closeness, and yet her own responses prevented it. She would never be kittenishly playful with him; he would never confront hard truth with her. They could scarcely ever relax with each other." (p. 145)
Their son Elliott "saw FDR as a great illusionist, and it was his mother who made the illusion stick" (p. 304)
Eleanor, during FDR's presidency: "I realize more and more that FDR's a great man, and he is nice, but as a person, I'm a stranger, and I don't want to be anything else!" (p. 334)
Eleanor on immigration
The Immigration Act of 1924--"bringing to an end the America that, as Eleanor rightly recognized, 'had profited a thousandfold by what they have brought us, many of them representing the best brains of the countries from which they came'" (p. 245)
Criticism of ER
Steve Early, a press secretary of FDR: "Sometimes I think the Constitution should require that the President be a bachelor" (p. 334)
Eleanor quotes showing how awesome she was
"Her speeches to college students sounded subversive: 'Study history realistically'--'Do not always believe your country is right'--'You'll love your country just as much, the same as you love your parents, although you might not always believe them to be right'" (p. 337)
"If ever any Americans go to a concentration camp, American democracy will go with them" (p. 394)
In his single-volume biography, simply titled Eleanor, David Michaelis focuses a lot on Eleanor, the person, as opposed to her many accomplishments or events in her life. It veers into being more of a psychological biography; obviously the events of her life are covered, but there's a lot of focus on her relationships and why she relates to people the way she does. There were times, particularly during FDR's presidency, that entire years were skipped with barely a blink. Which honestly wouldn't be an issue, except that Michaelis will mention something in passing that hadn't come up before. In that sense, despite it being a fairly compact biography, it probably wouldn't be great for people who aren't already familiar with the beats of Eleanor's life and FDR's presidency. It does a good job of analysis but isn't a good introduction.
Also, it was a bit weird what relationships he focused on. Obviously Eleanor's relationships with her father and Franklin are the big two. Michaelis writes about ER's relationship with Lorena Hickock, mostly to be like, "It was TOTALLY A SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP!!!" and is clearly using diaries/letters to make that assertion. Which, on the one hand, I get. I definitely remember reading biographies of Eleanor that might obliquely reference her relationship with Hick but be like, "But that's just how ladies of Eleanor's age would write to their friends!" On the other hand, I think it was really just how he wrote it that was weird. I don't know. And he honestly spent a lot less time on Hick than I would expect; ditto Earl Miller, another significant relationship for ER.
I particularly felt that ER's relationship with Marion Dickerman and Nancy Cook really got short shrift. Again, this is another time when he alludes to a falling out and problems in their relationship, but we don't get the details about it (some of which I know from other biographies). These bothered me because Michaelis clearly did a ton of research and I'm sure he knows loads about these various relationships; I just wanted more of them.
He does spend a TON of time on ER's relationship with David Gurewitsch, her doctor/object of affection late in life. (To the detriment, I feel, of Joe Lash, who sort of fades out of the picture after WWII.) I didn't know a ton about him (mostly that he existed, he and his wife shared a house with ER at the end of her life, and she was fond of him), so getting more information was helpful. But it felt like he got too much attention, particularly compared to others in Eleanor's life. I can't tell how significant he actually was because I feel like this was the story Michaelis wanted to tell.
It feels like I'm nitpicking; truth be told, I did quite enjoy this books. Michaelis's affection for Eleanor is clear throughout the book. He sympathizes with her but doesn't shy away from her flaws. He includes a number of pretty awful quotes from her about Jewish and Black people; she became champions for both groups, but certainly wasn't born that way. One of the remarkable things about Eleanor is how she grew into First Lady of the World, into FDR's conscience.
I also appreciated learning more about her time after FDR's death. I read too many books as a kid that had a final chapter (inevitably titled "On Her Own," after ER's memoir, On My Own) about her life after FDR died, usually focused pretty solely on her work with the UN. She did SO. MUCH. MORE. (while FDR was around, too, to be fair) and I love getting the details about it.
Would I recommend this book? Absolutely, though with the caveat that it would be helpful to know some of the details of Eleanor's life already. It's a solid, compact biography of my favorite historical figure.
Key Quotes
Advice from her Auntie Bye, which forever guided her life
"You will never be able to please everyone. No matter what you do, my dear, some people are going to criticize you. ... If you are satisfied in your mind that you are right, then you need never worry about criticism" (p. 82)
On Eleanor's reaction to being hurt (relatable)
"When hurt, she suppressed her feelings, and when anyone tried to come closer, whether to help or to hurt more, her only instrument of resistance was to turn away and sulk" (p. 104)
Eleanor trying to cope with her own life
"It was almost as though I had erected someone outside myself who was the president's wife. I was lost somewhere deep down inside myself" (p. 383)
"Work had always been her antidote for depression. Loneliness, she maintained, was a state of mind or of the soul and therefore untreatable, simply 'the lot of all human beings.'" (p. 493)
On Franklin and Eleanor
"As a couple, they were foils. He endured her seriousness and intensity as she endured his pranks and swordplay. ... He was not intentionally unkind, but he could be cold; his sense of fun was often cruel; and the more defenseless the victim, the less Franklin could resist the impulse to bully" (p. 107)
"She yearned for closeness, and yet her own responses prevented it. She would never be kittenishly playful with him; he would never confront hard truth with her. They could scarcely ever relax with each other." (p. 145)
Their son Elliott "saw FDR as a great illusionist, and it was his mother who made the illusion stick" (p. 304)
Eleanor, during FDR's presidency: "I realize more and more that FDR's a great man, and he is nice, but as a person, I'm a stranger, and I don't want to be anything else!" (p. 334)
Eleanor on immigration
The Immigration Act of 1924--"bringing to an end the America that, as Eleanor rightly recognized, 'had profited a thousandfold by what they have brought us, many of them representing the best brains of the countries from which they came'" (p. 245)
Criticism of ER
Steve Early, a press secretary of FDR: "Sometimes I think the Constitution should require that the President be a bachelor" (p. 334)
Eleanor quotes showing how awesome she was
"Her speeches to college students sounded subversive: 'Study history realistically'--'Do not always believe your country is right'--'You'll love your country just as much, the same as you love your parents, although you might not always believe them to be right'" (p. 337)
"If ever any Americans go to a concentration camp, American democracy will go with them" (p. 394)
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