Rating: 
Summary: Engrossing account of a wonderful partnership
Review: Doris Kearns Goodwin is masterful in her book on the dynamic relationship between FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt. A complete history of FDR's presidency it is not, but this book gives you insight into one of our country's most fascinating public relationships. I was completely engrossed in this beautifully written story. It gave me a better understanding for how Eleanor Roosevelt and FDR negotiated with and influenced each other, and how she impacted his presidency. FDR used her to extend an olive branch to feminists and minorities; she used her influence to lobby him on behalf of the poor and other groups needing help. An enthralling read!
Rating: 
Summary: Not a biography-a hagiography
Review: Goodwin has written yet another "biography" of FDR and Eleanor which omits more history than it includes. If you are looking for an objective examination of the New Deal and the events leading up to WW II, or an explanation of why FDR was surrounded by so many communists, this is not the book for you. There are other books suggested as alternatives that would be a much better source of information instead of this propaganda. Goodwin admits to being a liberal, and this book shows that on every page. She cannot even bring herself to discuss Eleanor's lesbian relationships in a candid and honest way. The only new revelation I found in the book was the fact that some newspaper reporters who wrote about the administration actually LIVED in the White House while spewing their propaganda in the name of objective journalism. If you want to read a book that reinforces your belief that FDR was nearly a flawless human, then read this book. If you want to read some actual history, such as FDR's 1940 campaign where he branded anyone who said he was planning on taking the US into the war in Europe as a liar, while planning at the same time to do so, and doing so with his embargo of oil to Japan that guaranteed the attack on the US, there are many better books than this. Goodwin is an admitted plagarist, and she would have been better off stealing some legitimate material for this book than publishing this tripe.
Rating:
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.
Rating:
Summary: the best biography
Review: Doris Kearns Goodwin really took her time and wrote one of the best books I have ever read. She talked about Franklin and Eleanore and their influence on each other, as well as the support for each other they needed to get through WWII. I was born in 1960, and recognized many of the names in politics from my childhood, but the step by step process of the war and the thinking behind each step was just so educational for me. I chose this book for my Literature group last year, and everyone loved it. Most of the women lived through this time, and one was a nurse in the army at that time, and said this was a very accurate account, but also that she learned much more than was ever in the news. Just a great experience and definitely sparked great discussion fo hours!
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