Customer Reviews

Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I confess I approached Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage with trepidation. Not another book about the Roosevelts, I thought. But Rowley's perfectly paced one volume account of two larger-than-life figures stunningly demonstrates that not only is there room for another book, there is a need for this book.

Rowley's triumph is her impartiality. Most Roosevelt biographies deal with either FDR or ER, but even those which limn both lives tend to champion one and demonize the other. Rowley's account is perhaps the first that is truly evenhanded. She celebrates the strengths and achievements of both partners in the greatest political marriage of modern times, perhaps of all times, and brings sympathy and understanding to the faults and weaknesses of each.

Rowley, the author of Tete-a-Tete, the acclaimed dual biography of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul-Sarte, is a gifted observer of relationships. In fact, Franklin and Eleanor is not so much a dual biography as a dazzling dissection of an unconventional marriage. That is the real originality of the book.

Their union broke rules. Each led an independent life. From the very beginning, these two distant cousins were temperamentally incompatible and politically and publicly attuned. Alone, each of them would have been effective. Together they were glorious. More than that, as Rowley makes clear, without each other they would not have become the Franklin and Eleanor who transformed and dominated the twentieth century. Without Franklin, Eleanor might have lived out her life as a dutiful wife and mother rather than a force for justice and equality. Without Eleanor, FDR would have been a successful politician rather than a great statesman. But each of them pushed the other to new heights.

They disagreed on many issues. They could not have been more dissimilar personally. But each loved and respected the other. Rowley understands this dynamic. More to the point, she plumbs it with subtlety and compassion, and in doing so, she reveals that the marriage was anything but the sham modern cynics have made it out to be.

Eleanor and Franklin is exhaustively researched history and stunningly insightful biography. If you think you know Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, as so many of us do, this book will surprise you, not with new information, but with profound and empathetic understanding. Rowley's sure pacing will keep you turning pages. Her astute and humane portrait of the two individuals behind the public figures will bring you as close as you are ever likely to get to the marriage that shaped the twentieth century.

Wow! As a Roosevelt scholar, I kept saying to myself, "I didn't know that!" Hazel Rowley is a gifted, generous yet economical writer. In only 302 novelistic pages she vividly depicts the forty year Roosevelt marriage and the whole community of friends, advisors, and lovers they created around them. As you zip through the years in a narrative that never bogs down, you will be amazed by the depth of her research. Missy LeHand, Lucy Mercer Rutherford, Daisy Suckley, Earl Miller, Lorena Hickock, and Louis Howe are fully realized here and placed securely in the context of a loving Roosevelt partnership. Cutting through myths and unfair characterizations, she confidently portrays a much stronger and more flexible marriage than previous biographers had dared to see. I love and admire the authority and courage with which she guides us through this complex and fascinating world.

Am I embarrassed to admit that I saw this book as a local bookstore on the table, and passed it up originally? Yes! I'm an unoffical scholar of our 32nd president and his wife, and admire their work and lives almost as I do this president: Lincoln, Life-Size.

The Roosevelts have a lure over me that I can't quite explain. Perhaps their persistent progressivism, that is so missing in our country today, refreshes. Whatever the case, when I saw the cover of the book on the table, I went over and leafed through a couple of pages ... and then walked on. Why? I thought, "Who needs to read another book on the Roosevelt marriage? Hasn't that been written about before?". The answer is yes, and no. Hazel Rowley's new book is a fresh look at this great couple, and a read that was well-worth my time.

First let me say that this book doesn't uncover any major new revelations. What Crowley has brilliant done is nuanced the current knowledge of the Roosevelts and added much dynamics and commentary to what we already know. For example, any Roosevelt reader knows about the infamous Mercer affair. Covered in this book, Mercer strives to paint a picture of Eleanor after the affair as not distant or unkind, but still caring of her husband. Crowley publishes excerpts of letters between the two that suggest just as much. In fact, when FDR contracts polio, it is Eleanor that nurses her husband, and even sleeps in the window bed beside him.

Crowley also strives to dismantle the common conception of the battle between Sara Roosevelt and Eleanor. While certainly conflicts existed between the two, they were mutually fond of each other. Crowley also presents some letters of fondness between the two women that show their affection. Was it perfect? No. The lives of two strong women are bound to come in conflict, and it did not diminish the feelings between the two. Tour FDR's house in Hyde Park, and a ranger will tell you just as much.

In fact, I ended up purchasing this book on my Kindle for that very purpose. Just prior to Thanksgiving, I had the honor of visiting his house And because I read this interesting book that focused not so much on history, but on love, the Roosevelts came alive for me ever more in that house. It's quite a read for quite a couple, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. This would must a great Christmas present for a Roosevelt fan in your family, or anyone wanting to read about an amazingly complicated marriage.

Hazel Rowley presents Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt within the context of their marriage, a remarkable partnership of deep intimacy and friendship as well as betrayal and losses. The reader sees each in the private roles of child, parent, and friend against the dramatic historic events of the great depression, the New Deal, and WWII. The relationships of the president to the press, and of public reactions to his personal and political choices, are particularly interesting in light of current political events. The emergence of Eleanor Roosevelt from an insecure orphan idealizing the memory of her troubled father to a world figure in her own right is well developed. This is a grand work of nonfiction which reads like good historical fiction and I recommend it enthusiastically.

As an Anglophile one must acknowledge that FDR was one of the greatest friends of England prior to and during our (the American) time fighting WWII. He skirted the law of the land to give as much as possible to help England before we entered the war. Finishing the book on the story of FDR and Eleanor's romance I am filled with sadness for them. Eleanor found out after he passed away that one of the women he had an affair with after they married was visiting him the day he died and her family and White House staff hid that visit and several previous from her. For many years this story (and other indiscretions) were hidden by people in the know. Eleanor had several affairs herself. The two of them were affectionate to each other and frequently made a good team but love was lost somewhere in the first decade of their marriage.

The author makes it clear that Eleanor and others journals, letters, and interviews were often scrubbed to present the truth as they wished it to be presented. Eleanor wrote a long three volume autobiography but was very circumspect in protecting the FDR's and her personal legacy. The history of her and FDR's affairs are frequently preserved in their love letters to their lovers and some tell all testimony years after FDR passed away. They both achieved greatness but never contentment in love with each other. A sad indictment on a life lived less fully than it should be. I am a bit jealous of his large collection of books and living room filled with shelves full of books but hope for more faithful fulfilled living in my personal love life.

The author briefly mentions the falsehood that Charles Lindbergh was an anti-Semite Nazi sympathizer which is not accurate. She does not mention one of FDR's first public embarrassment with the Air Mail situation in 1934 choosing instead to identify the court packing effort to grow the Supreme Court as his first great set back as president. Towards the end of the book the author went from telling the story of the relationship of FDR and Eleanor to the story of their deeds and legacy. Not a bad end but I feel like she started to soon as the last few years together could have been fleshed out more.

I feel I must add that though I felt the author approved and admired Eleanor she was very fair with both FDR and Eleanor to record both their good qualities and bad and let their story tell the story of who they were. Stylistically well written and put together with a smooth flow to the story.

Despite being an avid republican with rather unfavorable lifelong impressions of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, I decided to give this book a go and I'm so glad I did. Here's why. It reads like a great romantic novel with rich characters, lush settings, intrigue, suspense and great passions. It provides the most pleasureable history lessons on the everyday life of blue bloods in the early twentieth century and depression and wartime area politics. It greatly changed my set opinions of Franklin and Eleanor, somewhat in a negative direction, but mostly positively. For instance, for the first time I could appreciate how intense Franklin's charm must have been because of the godlike devotion it inspired in all those close to him. As for Eleanor, I learned that she was so much more than the homely, socialist I'd pictured. In fact, she was a surprisingly complex woman with her own beauty when all facets were looked at.
Thank you, Hazel Rowley, for broadening my outlook in such an enjoyable way.

I spent the Thanksgiving break reading Hazel Rowley's book on the marriage of Franklin and Eleanor. I was happily captivated by the zippy pace yet scholarly writing. There are many quotes (all referenced), that make for a flowing, familiar text. Although much has been previously written on both protagonists, this book takes their relationship in marriage as its primary focus, and reveals how Eleanor and Franklin were both radical humanists. They clearly respected each other as individuals and loved each other deeply enough to allow the other to have other deep relationships. It would, unfortunately, be impossible today for a first lady to spend weeks with close friends in a cottage in the woods, to be a partner in a furniture-making business, to go on a 3-week motoring trip around eastern Canada with a friend, or to become close to a young man being investigated for "un-American activities", without being hounded by the press and the pundits. Similarly, Franklin was able to spend many weeks saiiing in the Caribbean, or motoring around Hyde Park or Warm Springs with close friends. Yet they remained closely connected by mail and drew strength from each others' commitment to improving the lives of all Americans. The latter being truly remarkable considering their patrician upbringing and family wealth. The book is an intimate and comprehensive window into a relationship that was extraordinary for its context.

So many books have been written about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt (both as individuals and as a married couple) that any new article or book runs the risk of redundancy.

The chief problem with most works analyzing the Roosevelt's marriage is that they've tended to side with one spouse over the other: The pro-Eleanor group paints Franklin as emotionally distant at best or at worst an adulterous cad; The pro-Franklin forces tar Eleanor as prudish, frigid, and possibly Lesbian - driving Franklin into the arms of other women (there's also a Lesbian angle among pro-Eleanor groupies.)

The truth of the Roosevelt's marriage is more nuanced and complex. Hazel Rowley gives a balanced appraisal of the ups and downs of their marriage. Rowley contends that what held the marriage together was not a cynical "deal" made in the wake of the Lucy Mercer affair (which, the author contends, was not so much an affair as a prolonged flirtation), but the shared "idealism" of Franklin and Eleanor. They both sought companionship in other people: Eleanor in Lorena Hickok and Earl Miller, Franklin in Daisy Suckley and Missy LeHand. Some of those around the couple were content being in FDR's and ER's orbits, but others such as LeHand suffered emotionally when they learned friendship had its limits. Rowley does not give credence to the rumors that any of these relationships became sexual.

Sara Delano Roosevelt comes off unsympathetically in this book. Rowley describes the stifling atmosphere of Springwood at Hyde Park as being an extension of Sara's domineering personality, who managed FDR's finances until she died in 1941 (during FDR's third term). It was the feeling of being under Sara's control which led Franklin to build Val-Kill and Top Cottage as getaways for Eleanor and himself. I've been to all three places. Springwood is over-decorated, cave like, and stuffy (it also smells, but that might just be mold) - one feels a sense of oppression just standing in the foyer. Val-Kill is homey and cluttered in a comfortable way, while Top Cottage has big, open airy rooms - easily navigable by wheelchair.

There are some gaps here. Despite an entire chapter dealing with Franklin's initial weeks struggling with paralytic disease (without Eleanor's support, he might not have survived) there is not one mention of recent research that indicates the cause was Guillain-Barre, not polio.

Rowley accentuates the positive aspects of the Roosevelt story. There is not much original here, but Rowley collates much of the existing material into one book. This book is worth reading as a supplement to Eleanor Roosevelt's own books, No Ordinary Time and the Joseph Lash books. But it's not a replacement.

I've been up all night finishing this book. A fascinating look at a period in American history that is scarily similar to our challenges today through the lens of one of the most famous American presidential marriages. The morphing of two aristocrats from the Hudson Valley into the progressive force that yanked us out of the depression, won the Second World War and delivered the greatest First Lady in American history as told by Hazel Rowley is a moving and inspiring story. Rowley is such a great story-teller that she delivers a mass of facts and insights about this pair in a manner that reads like one of the most engrossing novels you've ever picked up. If you want to understand how leadership can change a country, and the world, and you want a great read about a couple with the courage and strength to overcome enormous tragedy while granting each other freedom and support this is the book for you.

A number of books have been written about Franklin D Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor, and I was tempted to read this one after hearing an interview with the author, Hazel Rowley shortly before she died.

I confess to knowing very little about either of the Roosevelts before reading this book and while the life of the man who became the longest serving US President in history is interesting, it is the partnership between Eleanor and Franklin which engaged me. Both Eleanor and Franklin seem to have inspired great loyalty in a number of people, including Louis Howe and Marguerite `Missy' LeHand, who served them for life.

It would be easy to be distracted by the friendships and relationships each Roosevelt formed with others but it was their partnership that held my interest. According to this book: `Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt's marriage is one of the most celebrated and scrutinized partnerships in presidential history. It raised eyebrows in their lifetimes and has only become more controversial since their deaths. From FDR's lifelong romance with Lucy Mercer to Eleanor's purported lesbianism - and many scandals in between - the American public has never tired of speculating about the ties that bound these two headstrong individuals.'

In this book, Ms Rowley set out to try to separate fact from myth in trying to understand their partnership. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his cousin Eleanor married on 17 March 1905. They both grew up in the same East coast circles of influence, money and tradition. They were both public spirited individuals who seemed to complement each other in a number of different ways. And yet, as the book clearly shows, their relationship was not without its challenges.

I enjoyed reading this book about what must surely rank as one of the most influential political partnerships of the twentieth century. As depicted by Ms Rowley, Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt's relationship evolved from a quite conventional marriage in 1905 to a bold and radical partnership which lasted until Franklin D Roosevelt's death in 1945.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith