No Ordinary Time : Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, The Home Front in World War II

Rating:
Summary: Well Written and Easy to Read
Review: Doris Kearns Goodwin has written a very enjoyable book. It takes a different view of presidential history by focusing on the family life of Franklin and Elanor Roosevelt and the life enjoyed by their official family during their White House years.

By focusing on the perosnal side, this book provides glimpses at facets of the Roosevelt story that are either ignored by standard histories or covered in passing. That is not to say this book is not serious history -- it is -- just from a different vantage point. One is much more likely to learn about FDR the man (and Eleanor the woman) than thay would in say James McGreggor Burn's excellent FDR biography. There are also excellent passages on their relationships with the luminaries who made the time...Churchill, Hopkins, Ikes and the New Deal crew. Since so much related to getting things done revolves around relationships, this focus helps in the understanding of how the great events of the 1930's came to be.

The gossipy stuff is in here too -- affairs, the questions surrounding Eleanor's "friends" and FDR's personal foibles and habits. Goodwin to her credit does not treat these issues salaciously, but as part of the story to understanding the Roosevelts.

She is an excellent author and has produced a very enjoyable history of her subjects. Can't wait for her upcoming book on the day to day activities of President Lincoln. It she meets this standard, that will be a fascinating book.

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: An Outstanding Example On How History Should Be Presented
Review: Goodwin manages to pull off a delicate balancing act in No Ordinary Time. She spends a great portion of the book discussing the consequences of the large issues (race relations, labor/production struggles, military preparedness) facing the country during this period. Yet, she also spends as much time noting the personal issues, like Franklin and Eleanor's struggles with their marriage and the tragic travails of Missy LeHand. The result of this balancing act is a wonderfully complete depiction that gives one an appreciation of not only the complexities of the time, but also of the incredible intelligence and character of the Roosevelts. The comprehensive nature of the book makes it difficult to imagine that a better book on the Roosevelt presidency during World War II can be written.

A reader may get a little lost trying to keep track of all the names, especially when they appear only once every fifty or one hundred pages. Fortunately, the index in the back is very useful for finding the first appearance and description of these characters. Still, this minor drawback does not offset the powerful lessons that the book teaches. For those who equate government with partisan bickering and gridlock, it is heartening to know that such conditions existed during World War II, yet were overcome with persistence and ingenuity. For those who did not live thorough those times, it gives a vivid portrayal of the sacrifices and challenges that all Americans endured. Finally, it shows that Roosevelt's belief that people will respond successfully when given a challenge and the freedom to rise to that challenge is true. These are all powerful lessons that not only illuminate our past, but give us a guideline for our future. Ultimately, that is the mark of a successful historical book. Goodwin should be (and has rightfully been) commended for making such a book.

Rating:
Summary: Great insight into why WWII events happened
Review: I have been a fan of Doris Kearns Goodwin after hearing her speak at a leadership conference. All of her descriptions of events were built around the people that made the key decisions or influenced the events to occur.

This Pulitzer Prize book is equally well researched on both of the book's characters, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. In reading the book, you feel like you are actually living in the White House during the events leading up to and during the Depression and World War II.

The author is so thorough in the details gathered from her research from diaries and letters, that the book is not a fast read. However it is a fascinating portrait of two extraordinary individuals that led our nation through extraordinary events and personally influenced historical change in the way we live as Americans that forever changed our fabric.

I highly recommend to any Franklin or Eleanor Roosevelt reader...through this work, you cannot understand one without knowing the other.

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring Biography (Not quite broader History)
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: No ordinary award - the Pulitzer - is very fitting
Review: 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.