Maurine Beasley, Professor Emerita of Journalism at the University of Maryland, has been an education editor for the Kansas City Star and staff writer for the Washington Post. She is the author of First Ladies and the Press and coeditor of the Eleanor Roosevelt Encyclopedia.

• Editor’s ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Finding a Place2. Launching a Career3. Merging the Personal and the Political4. Claiming the Public Stage5. Reaching the Dispossessed6. Backing the War Effort7. Visionary of the World8. Modeling Political LeadershipNotesBibliographic EssayIndex

"A thorough examination of a woman who pursued her own agenda and whose life still inspires."—Journalism History"Beasley excels at capturing the complex, dynamic partnership the Roosevelts forged, often at a high personal cost to both. . . . The best biography of Eleanor Roosevelt this reviewer has read to date. Highly recommended."—Choice"Thoroughly researched, not too loaded with fanciful speculation, and notable for offering a fresh view of Eleanor’s unorthodox world and the women and men she loved."—New York Review of Books"Innovative and enlightening, Beasley’s unique portrait of this complex and popular, though controversial, first lady provides even Eleanor Roosevelt experts with fresh insights. How FDR’s wife utilized the media to further her own political agenda constitutes the book’s focus and reveals how Eleanor’s twelve-year White House tenure established the standards by which we evaluate all subsequent first ladies."—Barbara Perry, author of Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier"Eleanor Roosevelt refused to be confined by tradition. This shrewd and succinct biography examines how she overcame her own insecurities to become America’s most independent first lady and worldwide human rights activist."—Donald A. Ritchie, author of Electing FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932

Maurine Beasley, Professor Emerita of Journalism at the University of Maryland, has been an education editor for the Kansas City Star and staff writer for the Washington Post. She is the author of First Ladies and the Press and coeditor of the Eleanor Roosevelt Encyclopedia.

• Editor’s ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Finding a Place2. Launching a Career3. Merging the Personal and the Political4. Claiming the Public Stage5. Reaching the Dispossessed6. Backing the War Effort7. Visionary of the World8. Modeling Political LeadershipNotesBibliographic EssayIndex

"A thorough examination of a woman who pursued her own agenda and whose life still inspires."—Journalism History"Beasley excels at capturing the complex, dynamic partnership the Roosevelts forged, often at a high personal cost to both. . . . The best biography of Eleanor Roosevelt this reviewer has read to date. Highly recommended."—Choice"Thoroughly researched, not too loaded with fanciful speculation, and notable for offering a fresh view of Eleanor’s unorthodox world and the women and men she loved."—New York Review of Books"Innovative and enlightening, Beasley’s unique portrait of this complex and popular, though controversial, first lady provides even Eleanor Roosevelt experts with fresh insights. How FDR’s wife utilized the media to further her own political agenda constitutes the book’s focus and reveals how Eleanor’s twelve-year White House tenure established the standards by which we evaluate all subsequent first ladies."—Barbara Perry, author of Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier"Eleanor Roosevelt refused to be confined by tradition. This shrewd and succinct biography examines how she overcame her own insecurities to become America’s most independent first lady and worldwide human rights activist."—Donald A. Ritchie, author of Electing FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932

Maurine Beasley, Professor Emerita of Journalism at the University of Maryland, has been an education editor for the Kansas City Star and staff writer for the Washington Post. She is the author of First Ladies and the Press and coeditor of the Eleanor Roosevelt Encyclopedia.

• Editor’s ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Finding a Place2. Launching a Career3. Merging the Personal and the Political4. Claiming the Public Stage5. Reaching the Dispossessed6. Backing the War Effort7. Visionary of the World8. Modeling Political LeadershipNotesBibliographic EssayIndex

"A thorough examination of a woman who pursued her own agenda and whose life still inspires."—Journalism History"Beasley excels at capturing the complex, dynamic partnership the Roosevelts forged, often at a high personal cost to both. . . . The best biography of Eleanor Roosevelt this reviewer has read to date. Highly recommended."—Choice"Thoroughly researched, not too loaded with fanciful speculation, and notable for offering a fresh view of Eleanor’s unorthodox world and the women and men she loved."—New York Review of Books"Innovative and enlightening, Beasley’s unique portrait of this complex and popular, though controversial, first lady provides even Eleanor Roosevelt experts with fresh insights. How FDR’s wife utilized the media to further her own political agenda constitutes the book’s focus and reveals how Eleanor’s twelve-year White House tenure established the standards by which we evaluate all subsequent first ladies."—Barbara Perry, author of Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier"Eleanor Roosevelt refused to be confined by tradition. This shrewd and succinct biography examines how she overcame her own insecurities to become America’s most independent first lady and worldwide human rights activist."—Donald A. Ritchie, author of Electing FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932