This is Eleanor Roosevelt's story in her own words, and since she is the author you will learn only what she wanted told. I thoroughly enjoyed the opening section of the book where she tells about her childhood. She is guarded throughout the book, but this part of the book felt the most open. Her childhood was challenging, and she really managed to overcome so many difficulties that she was initially faced with. She provides very little detail about her courtship with Franklin. There isn't much romance to be found here, and she never mentions Franklin's infidelities, or her own. She is fairly upfront about her own weaknesses, and admits several times where she felt she made mistakes.
FDR's presidency years go by quickly, so if you want greater detail about administrative details those would best be found in other books. Although she doesn't discuss her husband's affair, I think you can feel the distance between them in the pages in this book.
I really liked how Eleanor began to redefine herself during, and especially after, her husband's presidency. It was inspiring to read about how she became interested in causes and how she became an advocate for many. She assumes a lot in the ending chapters of the book. I didn't know much about her later life, so it was hard for me to put into context some of what she just assumes the reader would know about.
I think what was missing for me in this book was the personal details. It just felt too aloof. But there can be no doubt that she was a great political mind in her own right.
I thought this particular passage is particularly important to remember in today's political climate:
"I thought and still think that a good business executive does not make a good government administrator, nor does an administration of businessmen make for good government. A businessman needs certain qualities for success; a government offical needs a wide variety of qualities and some quite different ones. He cannot be successful unless he has a knowledge of people and politics... Often businessmen go into goverment with the idea that they will be the men at the top and that their orders will be carried out. This is probably the correct approach in business, but in government it is necessary to persuade others that what they want to do is the best course. Unless Congress goes along with them, they can't get results. President Eisenhower evidently felt that he could establish an administration in the pattern of big business, but such an approach to the complexities of government is not necessarily either democratic or successful."
There are a lot of good political insights like the above to think about in this book.