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97 of 100 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Inspiring Biography (Not quite broader History), July 19, 2000
No Ordinary Time is a wonderfully well written biography which tells the story of "Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt -- The Home Front in World War II." Doris Kearns Goodwin has made a number of choices to tell her biographical story with deceptive simplicity. I personally don't think the book quite manages to completely encompass "The Home Front in World War II" along the way, and I probably didn't want it to; instead it tells the story of the war through the Roosevelts' fascinating circle of White House "family" members, with broader historical themes touching on that story.The personal story works. I've never read quite this sort of parallel biography before. In a lot of ways the relationship between FDR and his astonishingly complex, compassionate wife makes a perfect lens through which to view the times. Goodwin has plenty of chances to let Eleanor's various interests touch on different aspects of American life; hardly anything escapes the first lady's list of interests and causes, so there's no strain to include anything, that's for sure. I sometimes found myself, though, wishing the emphasis was more squarely on biography proper. Four or five times in reading the book, I became momentarily bogged down in passages involving, say, big picture statistics, and wanted to concentrate on the motives and feelings of Eleanor and Franklin again. In particular, Eleanor's various interests often serve to introduce some new social issue, and I wanted to really understand *her* appreciation of things rather than reading a set of statistics she wouldn't have had access to anyway. Honestly, though, No Ordinary Time breathes life into these people. You come away from the book understanding that they could be huge, monumental figures and yet be complex and flawed and very human at the same time. There's no taking away from the heart of the book. It's told well, and it makes a wonderful, rich, rewarding read.
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102 of 109 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
No ordinary award - the Pulitzer - is very fitting, November 23, 2002
This is one of the finest books I have ever read about America's involvement in World War II. Not only has Goodwin thoroughly researched her subject, but she knows how to tell it in an easily readable, "can't put it down" manner. Writing an informative, wonderfully illustrative book about the home front during mankind's biggest, deadliest war is a feat, but making readers feel as if they are actually living and experiencing that time is another accomplishment altogether. Goodwin does this in a book that will be read hundreds of years from now. Anyone who wishes to get the feel for what it was like during this tumultuous time should buy this book, read it, and then read it again. Many people of FDR's inner circle are profiled and narrated, including Lucy Mercer, the woman FDR fell in love with and nearly divorced Eleanor over; Missy LeHand, FDR's personal assistant whom many referred to as his "real" wife; as well as Ikes, Morgenthau, Stimson and most importantly, Harry Hopkins. Goodwin also debunks some myths about the FDR presidency, both good and bad. Some World War II "Did You Know" tidbits covered: 1. Nearly 105,000 refugees from Nazism reached the U.S., more than any other country. Palestine was second with 55,000. No one disputes that the number should have been much, much higher, but today's attitudes would lead people to believe that we turned everyone away. Footnote - during FDR's presidency, only 3 percent of the population was Jewish - but 15 percent of his appointments were Jewish. Our greatest wartime president was no Anti-Semite. 2. The journey of the St. Louis. The author gives adequate attention to one of the great tragedies of the war, and an enormous stain on FDR's legacy. 3. Goodwin thoroughly covers the internment of Japanese-Americans - another enormous stain on FDR's presidency. But what is often ignored is the overwhelming pressure on FDR from a tremendous number of people to confine anyone even remotely related to the Japanese. This should not have mattered to FDR, and tragically, it did. One can only wonder if this was part of FDR's dealmaking mentality to accomplish many of his goals to prepare for and wage war. Quite possibly, if he didn't go along with this tragic idea, he many not have received cooperation on many of his other initiatives. People also tend to forget that this was all out war following a tragic, unprovoked attack. Many of the same things are happening to people of Arab decent following the 9/11 attacks, and the Bush administration doesn't hesitate to throw the rule book or Constitution out the window with people of Arab decent, all in the name of fighting terrorism. Rooting out sympathizers and spies was a principle reason in confining the Japanese. This is not a justification for internment, merely part of the reason. 4. Eleanor played a big role in trying to convince Congress to pass legislation that allowed British children to come to the U.S. so they could be out of harm's way during the bombing of Britian. William Schulte of Indiana tried to get the provision expanded to include all European children under 16 - including German Jewish children. The provision never made it to the Senate floor for a vote. Goodwin also covers FDR's reasoning and motives behind lend-lease, the brilliant idea to provide war matériel to the Allies when they couldn't afford it. Even Stalin said that lend-lease was one of the biggest factors in winning the war. In short, this is one of the most informative and educational books written yet about what the home front was like, and the thinking and wisdom that went into many of the decisions about the war. It also offers many wonderful insights into FDR and Eleanor, and their complex relationship that was really more of a partnership. This brilliant tome belongs on any World War II bookshelf. I'd give it six stars if I could.
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38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A compelling portrait of remarkably unordinary people, July 24, 2005
Of the making of books on Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt there is not end. By any standard they remain two of the most remarkable people to have inhabited the White House, he as one of greatest presidents ever and she as without any serious competition the greatest first lady. Together, they forged a partnership without parallel in the nation's history.
In a sense, the book is deceptively delimited. Goodwin ostensibly deals with the Roosevelts and the Home Front during WW II, but in fact this is more like a joint biography of the two. She freely shifts the narrative from the years of 1939-45 to any point in the lives of the two, whether to dwell on their first meeting, to the time in which Franklin was afflicted with polio and his attempted recovery, to Eleanor's upbringing and the sufferings she experienced with alcoholics, to Franklin's adulterous affair that effectively ended his and Eleanor's marriage if not their partnership. So the book ends up as a wide-ranging exploration of the lives of the two main characters, as well the major figures in their lives, whether in the war years or not.
Franklin emerges in the book as what he certainly was: one of the truly great presidents in American history (even his detractors need recall that Ronald Reagan called him the greatest president). Virtually every poll of scholars since his lifetime has placed him among our three greatest presidents, but even that can overlook the fact that no president in our history faced more challenges than did Roosevelt, and few dealt with them so successfully. Goodwin is brilliant at showing both Franklin's great strengths as both president and a human being, as well as his weaknesses. As she demonstrates, perhaps no president had a greater sense of what could actually be achieved politically at any moment, as opposed to what ought to be achieved. He was the great master of compromise, at crafting seemingly impossible solutions to intractable problems. Could any other president have conceived the land-lease program that may have been as essential in determining the outcome of WW II? As she quotes Churchill as saying, no other individual of his age thought so globally and comprehensibly as he. And has there ever been a president who generated such confidence in the people as a whole. Whatever his moral shortcomings, his leadership qualities were beyond parallel, and surely no president spoke so brilliantly and directly to the hearts of Americans. Sometimes we don't get the leaders we deserve, but the ones we need.
But despite Roosevelt's brilliance as a political leader, Goodwin does not spare in presenting him warts and all. She shows him as someone seemingly incapable of intimacy, despite the hordes of people he needed to surround him at all times. He possessed a host of admirable qualities, but he could also be disappointing, such as his behavior towards Missy Lehand after her debilitating stroke. He is also presented as someone who detested the dirty business of firing someone, someone who would go to the greatest lengths to avoid anything unpleasant, someone who, in fact, comes across as the pampered child he had been. He emerges both as someone worthy of the greatest admiration despite some very real emotional shortcomings.
Much the same is true of Eleanor, who while coming across as the nearest thing to a saint as we are ever likely to see in our country, was deeply lacking in a host of human qualities. Goodwin shows her as alternatingly scolding, insensitive of Franklin's momentary needs, as unaffectionate and fearful of sex, as unspontaneous and lacking in humor, as lacking in confidence, and unforgiving of Franklin's unfaithfulness with Lucy Mercer. At the same time, did any American ever have a better heart where the downtrodden and needy were concerned, or any American have some unselfish concern with social and political justice? Throughout the book, Franklin and Eleanor emerge as so admirable in part because they are also so human. These are not marble statues, but they are nonetheless all the more remarkable for all that.
Any presidency contains a host of supporting characters, but this was especially so in the Roosevelt administration, largely because of Franklin's need to be surrounded by others. Probably no presidency saw so many people living in the White House as the Roosevelt years. Consequently, the book provides mini-biographies of a score of characters, whether the uber-secretary Missy Lehand, the remarkably gifted though gravely ill Harry Hopkins, the Roosevelt children, Eleanor's friend (and perhaps lover) Hick, or Eleanor's friend Joe Lash. There are also wonderful portraits of such important individuals as Winston Churchill, whose friendship with Roosevelt was one of the reasons for the close cooperation between the U.S. and Britain during the war.
Because the basic subject matter is one of our greatest presidents during a period of great crisis, there is an inescapable political element to the book, but the actual tone of the book focuses more on the personalities rather than the issues. I do not find the book the least less successful for that. In fact, I think this book is a wonderful corrective for other biographies that focus more on the New Deal and WW II years as a succession of debates on issues or military crises. I would place this fine book on any short list of books to read about Roosevelt and presidential leadership during the war years.
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