I was shocked to meet the Eleanor in the first part of this book who was dutiful, obedient, and a woman who never gave any thought to whether she supported women's suffrage. In her words, "the ability to think for myself did not develop until I was well on in life and therefore no real personality developed in my early youth." How depressing...but it gives some hope to those of us about to hit that age at which Eleanor's life really started to get fired up.

The early part of the book also offers an intriguing view of the odd family dynamic and parental practices of the well-connected, wealthy in the early 1900's (have you ever really stopped to ponder the profession of a wet nurse?).

I love how this book provides a cross section of world history - complete with Eleanor's interactions with world leaders (FDR, Churchill, Khrushchev, Tito, Truman, Kennedy), her insight into the inner-workings of US politics, and her role as representative to the UN. She travels the world and offers first-hand depictions of nations raw from breaking free from colonialism or weary from war, and she makes the reader understand why the threat of Communism felt so real. Throughout the story of her life she offers what it means to be a good leader, what it means to be an American, and what it means to be a good person.

"Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively; unless you can choose a challenge instead of a competence." - ER