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Summary: History made real
Review: Outstanding, vivid book really brings to life not just the public and momentous events in Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt's lives but the private and the everyday. Very rich character development and an incredible wealth of detail. If there is one shortcoming it's that Goodwin doesn't examine Eleanor's relationship with her secretary, Malvina Thompson, anywhere near as fully as she examines the Roosevelts' relationships with other important people in their lives. Overall a great read, couldn't put it down.
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Summary: Excellent historical book which reads like a novel
Review: This is a excellent book for history & non-history buffs. As the author describes the events that occurred in the lives of the Roosevelts, it is told in context of the times and the events surrounding them. I found that this give me a clear understanding of their thinking and actions. I thought the book presented the Roosevelts fairly even handed, though it seemed to me that some of their failings were explained away too easily. Overall a great book that I could not put down.
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Summary: A fascinating look into a fascinating time
Review: I often judge books by their ability to transport me to another place and time... and this one scores big. If you ever wished that you could be that proverbial fly on the wall, this book lets you! As Goodwin's title says, it was NO ORDINARY TIME, and her look at the figures that dominated the American political scene for 13 years is simply fascinating. The book especially leaves one with an appreciation for what an amazing woman Eleanor was. A great book!
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Summary: Goodwin makes history interesting once again!
Review: It has been years since I have attempted to read a book on history. Having been turned off to it during my college years, I felt my interest coming alive when I watched Ken Burns' Baseball on KCET. Goodwin's eloquence and knowledge showed in her interviews on baseball and her book on the Roosevelts has not disappointed me. I have learned volumes about the history of our country during the 40's. I now realize that Mrs. Roosevelt was a woman born 50 years too early and yet, had it not been for her, FDR would not have had the social conscience that he did. Thanks to Goodwin, I have a far greater respect for Mrs. Roosevelt than ever before and will continue to read her books on American History. I feel as though I am sitting and talking with a life long friend; not reading as her style is so very comfortable.
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Summary: Detailed accout of Roosevelt Era
Review: Doris Goodwin, althouth not a historian by trade, is an excellent storytelleer. In this volume, she attempts to understand WWII and the ensuing Cold War as product of two personalities -- Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. What makes this book compelling, and perhaps better than most of the other Roosevelt biographies, is Goodwin's ability to place together the varied pieces of FDR's private life, and then use it as a map to understand the public man. She spends much time on the unusual -- if not bizarre -- living arraingments in the White House during WWII. Harry Hopkins living in one room; Churchill in another; secretary Missy LeHand in another. And Eleanor had here own set of overnight guests and companions as well. But she doesn't make note of this for salacious reasons; rather, she points to it as evidence of Franklins unusual needs and quirks that were essential to his fullfilling his presidential duties. One could only wonder, she posits at one point, what the modern media would make of the Roosevelt White House. All in all, the book is an accurate, and sometimes spectacular, portrayal of the Roosevelt White during that most turbulent time. Goodwin does, on occassion, get a bit preachy and even philosophical about FDR's impact on the country and the world. It is, nonetheless, a fine effort.
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Summary: Goodwin is a master at weaving history with personal insites
Review: Doris Kearns Goodwin is a master at mixing endless historical facts with fascinating personal insites into this former president and his wife. It is not a book to be read in a weekend but realished over many weeks. There is so much to absorb and learn about the people and events that shaped that corner of history. I was fascinated to learn about certain pieces of WWII and what this country accomplished during that time. I am not a history buff by any means but find myself enjoying history as Goodwin has a way of making you feel as though you were there. I highly recommend it! I am already knee deep in her book about the Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys.
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Summary: An engaging and surprising account of the home front of WWII
Review: This is a book so rich and well-written that you choose to read it slowly, savoring each page. These few years of our history catapulted the US into world leadership and radically changed our culture, our institutions and the social fabric within which we live our lives. Doris Kearns Goodwin artfully draws you through the story weaving together the people, their personalities and the events that were to be the genesis of modern America.
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Summary: Best of the books about US politics in 20th century
Review: Doris Kearns Goodwin completes the picture about Elinor and FDR. A
fastastic book.
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Summary: An excellent study of FDR and Eleanor's life and impact.
Review: Many say Lincoln was our greatest president because he saved the Union. I say our greatest president was FDR, he saved THE WORLD. Goodwin's examination is scholarly and readable. Its weaknesses are understandable -- she is a social historian, not a military one. Do not look to this book for thrilling descriptions of late night war strategy sessions between the old man and Churchill. Goodwin tries hard to show what the man was truly like to those who knew him. After reading the book I felt as though I knew him too. The book inspired me to visit Hyde Park and I must confess I was a bit choked up when I saw Franklin's humble wheelchair in person.Equally impressive is the author's treatment of Eleanor's personality. She was truly a great figure in Amer
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Summary: A good look at a fascinating partnership.
Review: Doris Kearns Goodwin's book "No Ordinary Time" about FDR & Eleanor is a fine piece of writing that certainly belongs in anyone's American History library. Of course it is World History, but it is written from a very American perspective and thereby manages to relegate even Churchill to the wings. There is a degree of nearly strident feminism in the writing, not quite what one would call shrill, but the author's sympathies seem to lean decidedly toward Mrs. Roosevelt, often based on issues of sexual inequality. To be fair, Ms. Kearns Goodwin is about as harsh in her handling of racial prejudice
and anti-semitism, both cases where FDR used Eleanor as a lightening rod. What emerges is nonetheless what most sources reveal: he was the instinctive politician who happened to be in the right place at the right time to make magic happen while she was a tireless social activist more in tune with the masses than with any one person. He could bend his principles when needed (either for the greater good of the whole or on occasion for his own selfish indulgences) whereas she was quite rigid and nearly incapable of intimacy. One can (or should) hardly judge them. It is enough to appreciate their complexity and their contrasts and to see how they played off one another so well. The real beauty of this book is that it allows us to do just that quite completely.
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