Courage in a Dangerous World - by Eleanor Roosevelt (Paperback)

About the Book

Noted Eleanor Roosevelt scholar Allida Black has gathered more than 200 columns, articles, essays, speeches, and letters, tracing her development from timorous columnist to one of liberalism's most eloquent and outspoken leaders. 30 photos.

Book Synopsis

Dozens of books have been written about Eleanor Roosevelt, but her own writings are largely confined to the Roosevelt archives in Hyde Park. Courage in a Dangerous World allows her own voice again to be heard. Noted Eleanor Roosevelt scholar Allida M. Black has gathered more than two hundred columns, articles, essays, and speeches culled from archives whose pages number in the millions, tracing her development from timorous columnist to one of liberalism's most outspoken leaders.

From "My Day" newspaper columns about Marian Anderson and excerpts from Moral Basis of Democracy and This Troubled World to speeches and articles on the Holocaust and McCarthyism, this anthology provides readers with the tools to reconstruct the politics of a woman who redefined American liberalism and democratic reform. Arranged chronologically and by topic, the volume covers the New Deal years, the White House years, World War II at home and abroad, the United Nations and human rights, the Cold War, the civil rights movement, the resurgence of feminism, and much more. In addition, the collection features excerpts from Eleanor Roosevelt's correspondence with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Adlai Stevenson, J. Edgar Hoover, John F. Kennedy, and ordinary Americans.

The volume features a collection of 30 rare photographs. A comprehensive bibliography of Eleanor Roosevelt's articles serves as a valuable resource, providing a link to the issues she held dear, many of which are still hotly debated today.

From the Back Cover

Although Eleanor Roosevelt's life and work have inspired dozens of books, her own prolific writings are largely confined to the Roosevelt archives in Hyde Park. Courage in a Dangerous World allows her own voice again to be heard. Noted Eleanor Roosevelt scholar Allida M. Black has gathered more than two hundred columns, articles, essays, speeches, and letters, tracing her development from timorous columnist to one of liberalism's most eloquent and outspoken leaders. From "My Day" newspaper columns about Marian Anderson and excerpts from Moral Basis of Democracy and This Troubled World to speeches and articles on the Holocaust and McCarthyism, this anthology provides readers with the tools to reconstruct the politics of a woman who redefined American liberalism and democratic reform.

Review Quotes

An extraordinary collection of her letters, speeches, columns, and essays.... This volume should become a standard work for the new century.-- "Chicago Sun-Times"

Black... has struck archival gold.-- "Library Journal"

The intelligent writings of Roosevelt are both a tonic and a balm in this time of rampant doublespeak. Allida Black... has worked through the immense treasure trove of Eleanor Roosevelt's writings to make these jewels of common sense, candor, and generosity of spirit accessible to all readers.-- "Booklist"

About the Author

Allida M. Black is research professor of history, and project director and editor of The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers at The George Washington University. She is the author of Casting Her Own Shadow: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Shaping of Postwar Liberalism (Columbia) and the editor of "What I Hope to Leave Behind" The Essential Essays of Eleanor Roosevelt.