On this edition of ST, we speak with the noted historian and scholar Blanche Wiesen Cook. The third and final volume of her landmark biography of Eleanor Roosevelt has just been published. "Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 3: The War Years and After, 1939-1962" covers the final decades of a woman who towers over the 20th century, taking us through World War II, FDR's death, the founding of the United Nations, and much more. It is, as Maureen Corrigan noted on NPR's Fresh Air, "a monumental biography [and] an exhilarating story, as well as an undeniably melancholy one. In her relentless efforts to push American democracy to fulfill its promises, Eleanor Roosevelt was ahead of her time. As we ponder our curdled political culture...it's not at all clear that we have yet caught up to her." And further, from The New York Times Book Review: "Monumental and inspirational.... Cook skillfully narrates the epic history of the war years.... It's a tribute to Cook's rich portrait that after three enormous volumes I still wanted to know more.... [A] grand biography."
"Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 3: The War Years and After, 1939-1962"
