WITHOUT PRECEDENT: The Life and Career of Eleanor Roosevelt

by Joan & Marjorie Lightman--Eds. Hoff-Wilson ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1984

To celebrate the centenary of Eleanor Roosevelt's birth, and to launch a series on ""women's contribution over time"": four groups of original essays, by a galaxy of historians, which collectively examine ER's public career in the light of recent Americanist and feminist scholarship. The editors' introduction usefully identifies themes and draws inferences--most particularly, that ER ""could not move from her lifelong belief in individual equality of opportunity to endorse remedial action that would dramatically alter group relationships, whether based on sex or race."" But: ""she and her circle of friends captured the hearts of Americans to a degree unmatched by later generations of women activists."" Among the contributions, special mention is due William Chafe's curtain-raiser: as balanced and judicious a brief biography of ER (Earl Miller, Lorena Hickok, and all) as exists. Chafe concludes, unsurprisingly, that ER ""derived some of her emotional gratification from public life and from giving herself emotionally to distant correspondents. . . ."" He insists, however, that she did not emerge as a public figure only in reaction to the Lucy Mercer affair. Otherwise, the best gauge of the book's potential is a sampling of the contents: in the mainstream, ER and Women's Democratic Politics (Susan Ware), ER and Foreign Affairs (Blanche Wiesen Cook); for sidelights, ER and the 1944 vice-presidential nomination/post-FDR succession (Richard S. Kirkendall). Wrapping-up, Tamara Hareven comments on ER and reform, Abigail McCarthy considers ER as First Lady, Lois Scharf addresses ER and feminism. There is considerable overlap and much repetition--on ER/FDR strains, as well as ER pursuits and strategies. (Abigail McCarthy: ""it does seem that she tested the limits of a presidential wife's involvement."") But, for an important instance, Scharf's analysis of ER's place in the long struggle between social reformers and egalitarian feminists is independently illuminating. Though not nearly everything is up to the Chafe or Scharf level in style or acuity, the kaleidoscope does permit a richer, subtler understanding.

Pub Date: May 1, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Indiana Univ. Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1984

Categories: NONFICTION