My mother was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen.

Eleanor Roosevelt started out life as an orphan under the care of her strict grandmother. Awkward and painfully shy, her upper class upbringing was oftentimes lonely. She married her cousin Franklin before she was 20, had 5 children, and could have gone down in history as just another quiet politician's wife, but through helping FDR with his campaigns she was exposed to people from many different walks of life. She found her calling in trying to help those less fortunate both in America and around the world. In her autobiography, she tells the story of her extraordinary life.

I picked this book up after Loving Eleanor renewed my interest in Eleanor Roosevelt. I knew a bit about her life before, but this book definitely filled in some of the gaps. It is an autobiography, so there are quite a few things that Roosevelt chooses not to address, such as FDR's affairs or her own extramarital relationships (particularly with Lorena Hickok), but it is understandable that she would still want to keep things private. The book is written in a very conversational tone which I appreciated, but there were definitely times where it got a bit repetitive.

Roosevelt had quite the astute outlook on how the political situation as she saw it in the early 1960s would affect the future. There were quite a few statements, especially regarding the situation in the Middle East, that have definitely come to fruition. I appreciated learning more about Roosevelt's life after FDR's death as very few books I have read about her devote more than a sentence or two to her work with the UN.

I would highly recommend this book to people wanting to learn more about Eleanor Roosevelt, or people who like political history or feminist history. It is a great look into a fascinating woman's life.

2016 Popsugar challenge: An autobiography