No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Monica Drahonovsky, Monica Reads Review
If you like history, if you like reading, if you want to know about the years that Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt lived in the White House, you will love reading this book.
It is an intimate look at the most extraordinary time in our history. It is filled with details of their personal lives, their political lives and their family lives. I had many questions before I started reading this book and they have all been answered.
The author uses the timeline of life in the White House and gives many wonderful anecdotes about how, why and when things happened in the past to get them all where they ended up. The White House becomes a theater of political struggles, personal struggles, triumphant moments and not-so-triumphant moments.
There is mention of the before the polio struck Franklin Roosevelt, during his struggle to regain his powerful legs, and after he accepted the inevitable regarding his legs. Their personal struggles with his mother’s hard line and his passion for another woman. His charismatic personality was at the center of the book. Eleanor was his eyes and ears during the time at the White House and was indispensable to Franklin.
We learn why Eleanor feels less than equal to his mother and to her husband. Eleanor’s struggles for her personal self-worth is a mighty force in the book. Both of them struggled and both of them succeeded in amazing ways. Their individual personalities prove to be the winning mixture for three terms in the White House.
I am still thinking about this book and the author. Doris Kearns Goodwion won the Pulitzer Prize for this book and it was thoroughly deserved. I feel like I have had a personal look at two powerful figures in American history. Please read this book. You will be delighted. You will be sad. You will feel like there really is divine guidance at work by having both of their lives intersect the lives of American people at a desperate time in world history. Thank you, Doris Kearns Goodwin, for such an excellent read.
Monica Drahonovsky reviews books for InDepthNH.org. Monica is known for her love of history and her lifelong love for reading. She has a bachelor’s degree in History, with a minor in English. “My years of reading for leisure and pleasure have given me the insight to read a book and analyze the author’s baggage, cargo and ability to write the language of his/her mind and utilize the gift of prose to educate and entertain the reader. Go get a book, read it and enjoy the adventure.” Contact Monica at mawest@tds.net