This Is My Story, by Eleanor Roosevelt (HC, 1939, $10, which is 1/3 the internet price.)
Eleanor Roosevelt wrote of the early 1920s: "Many of my old friends I saw very little, because they led more or less social lives. I had dropped out of what is known as society, as we never went out. Now and then I would go to the theater with a friend, but my free hours were few. Ever since the war my interest had been in doing real work, not in being a dilettante. I gradually found myself more and more interested in workers, less and less interested in my old associates, who were busy doing a variety of things, but who were doing no job in a professional way."
Her autobiography, first published in 1937, ends with the Democratic Convention of 1924. Before her are the war years, and the illness and the death of her husband. Ahead of her too are her years of working for the United Nations. Yet already she has started to do, as she called it, "real work."
What makes this book unique, though, is not the book itself, but the clippings the former owner pasted in. My favorite is a clipping showing Mrs. R. in four of her hats, under the title, "Mrs. Roosevelt Frowns on Dull Hats." This article is obviously not of historical or political interest, but it certainly is fun to look at. I knew Mrs. Roosevelt was not a timid women. Apparently, she was not timid in her fashion sense either. Those hats were awful!
Even though she wears awful hats, Eleanor Roosevelt is still one of my heroes. Look for this book in the bio. section, avail. 12/14.
