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Historical person

Eleanor Roosevelt

1884–1962

Eleanor Roosevelt was first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 and transformed the role through travel, journalism, public advocacy and direct political engagement. She supported labour rights, women’s participation and civil rights, although her positions developed over time and were sometimes constrained by the Roosevelt administration.

After Franklin Roosevelt’s death she served at the United Nations and chaired the committee that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Eleanor Roosevelt was born in Manhattan and died in New York City.

Jacqueline Winspear’s A Sunlit Weapon turns Eleanor Roosevelt’s wartime visit to Britain into an urgent security concern when Maisie Dobbs uncovers evidence of German activity near the route. Kate Quinn’s The Diamond Eye depicts Roosevelt’s friendship with Soviet sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko during her American publicity tour, contrasting public diplomacy with the private strains placed on both women. Gore Vidal’s The Golden Age uses the Roosevelt White House and its political circle as part of the Sanford family’s access to power during the Second World War. In Washington D C, Eleanor belongs to the wider New Deal capital in which politicians, journalists and ambitious families manoeuvre around Franklin Roosevelt’s administration.

Periods

Periods linked to Eleanor Roosevelt

World War II1939–1945 CE

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Eleanor Roosevelt (2 series)

Maisie Dobbs Series in Order

by Jacqueline Winspear 18 books 4.5(136,796)

The Maisie Dobbs series follows a working-class London girl who becomes a nurse, psychologist and private investigator after education and service during the First World War. Beginning with her first independent case in 1929, the novels combine murder investigations with Maisie’s continuing effort to understand the physical and…

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Narratives of Empire in Order

by Gore Vidal 5 books 4.3(236)

Gore Vidal’s seven-volume Narratives of Empire sequence follows the United States from the revolutionary generation to the Cold War, combining the lives of the fictional Schuyler, Sanford and Day families with presidents, senators, journalists and political operators. The novels treat public history as a contest over power, reputation…

All books in this series

Standalone books

Standalone books featuring Eleanor Roosevelt (1 book)