Product Description

From the bestselling author of First Ladies, Inside the White House, and America's First Ladies comes the first look at the women of one of the most influential families in American history: The Roosevelts.

The Roosevelt name conjures up images of powerful presidents and dashing men of high society. In The Roosevelt Women, Betty Boyd Caroli finally gives the women of the remarkable Roosevelt clan their due. An exceptionally gifted historian, Caroli weaves together stories culled from a rich store of letters, memoirs, and interviews to chronicle nine extraordinary Roosevelt women across a century and a half of turbulent history.

"Great fun for Roosevelt buffs." -Kirkus Reviews

"An unforgettable family saga of four generations of feisty and fascinating women bound together by courage, love, and duty.…Hats off to Betty Caroli for this magnificent portrait of the women of one of America's most fabled families!" -Mary Matalin, political strategist and co-author of All's Fair: Love, War, and Running for President

"A memorable account of a remarkable group of women. Our view of the Roosevelts-and of what constitutes an American dynasty-will never be the same." -H.W. Brands, author of T.R.: The Last Romantic

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #444018 in Books
• Published on: 1999-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780465071340
• Condition: USED - GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
First Ladies Eleanor (Franklin's wife) and Edith (Theodore's) are both subjects of full-scale biographies, and Theodore's daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth remains legendary for her caustic wit. In this book, historian Betty Boyd Caroli looks at seven additional powerful Roosevelt women (the family didn't seem to produce or marry any other kind) and notes some intriguing similarities despite the political differences that divided "Theodores" (stalwart Republicans like Corinne Roosevelt Robinson and her daughter, Corinne Robinson Alsop) and "Franklins" (Democrats such as Sara Delano Roosevelt, unjustly caricatured as the mother-in-law from hell). All these women descended from Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, a Georgia belle who married North and kept her Confederate sympathies quiet; they all were unusually independent and outspoken for women born in the 19th century; and several compensated for unsatisfying marriages with intense friendships. And they lived and breathed politics with a sense of noblesse oblige towards those not blessed with their wealth and privileges. Caroli's cogent group portrait restores to history neglected figures like Anna Roosevelt Cowles, whom some contemporaries felt would have made a better president than her younger brother Theodore, and puts well-known histories like Eleanor's in a revealing new context. --Wendy Smith

From Publishers Weekly
With numerous full biographies available, there is something unsatisfying about Caroli's brief, chapter-length life-summaries for Theodore Roosevelt's sharp-tongued daughter, Alice Longworth, and her less-quarrelsome cousin Eleanor Roosevelt, so often the target of Alice's barbs. More valuable are Caroli's profiles of fascinating Roosevelts less familiar to readers and biographers, women such as TR's second daughter, Ethel Derby (who died in 1977 after a lifetime of good works), and his niece Corinne Alsop (Republican political activist and mother of journalist Joseph Alsop), not to mention his sisters Corinne Robinson (writer and prot?g?e of Edith Wharton) and Anna Cowles (one of TR's most savvy political advisers). At the end of the book, one is left wishing Caroli (First Ladies and Inside the White House) had cast a wider net in her search for featured players. Why, for example, does preeminent anthropologist Anna C. Roosevelt (the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" award) rate only five or six lines? And why do Selwa (Lucky) Roosevelt's few lines contain no hint of her distinguished foreign service career, or its culmination with the post of chief of protocol for the U.S. under Ronald Reagan? This often good book would have been much better without these and similar errors of omission. Illustrated.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
It was ideas and ideals that drove the Roosevelt women, particularly those influenced by the genes of Georgia belle Mittie Bulloch, says the author in this curiously engrossing overview of the Roosevelt XX-factor. As she researched an earlier book, First Ladies (not reviewed), historian Caroli was intrigued by the question of who provided Eleanor Roosevelt with models. Her mentor at an English boarding school is often given the credit, but Eleanor spent only three years at Allenswood, a brief respite in a life racked by early tragedy (the death of brother, mother, and father) and later turmoil (within a five-year span, the birth of her sixth child, discovery of her husband's well-established affair with Lucy Mercer, and Franklin's attack of polio). Caroli believes it was the influence of her aunts, cousins, and even her maligned mother-in-law, Sara, that set Eleanor on the path to becoming ``First Lady of the World.'' A chapter each is devoted to the primary exemplars, beginning with the matriarch, Martha (Mittie) Bulloch, who married a Theodore Roosevelt and moved to New York City not long before the Civil War, knowing she would face prejudice and misunderstanding because her family owned slaves. She toughed it out, giving birth to four children, including the future president Theodore and Eleanor's father, Elliott. Mittie's daughters Anna, known for her warmth, wit, and political acumen, and Corinne, also politically astute and in later life a sought-after public speaker, each receive a chapter, as do Eleanor and cousins Corinne Alsop, Ethel Derby, and Alice Longworth, Teddy's tart- tongued daughter. Sara (Franklin's mother) and Edith (Teddy's second wife), although Roosevelts only by marriage, share a chapter where the author tries to correct Sara's image as dominating and manipulative, and Edith's as the perfect wife and mother. Great fun for Roosevelt buffs; filling in some gaps for those still unable to reconcile how the awkward, uncertain Eleanor became an international icon. (photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

a wonderful engrossing read
I enjoyed immensely this collective biography of a group of women linked by a family name made famous by two presidents. Each was a notable, and in some cases extraordinary character in her own right. It is not an easy task to untangle and explicate the intricate skeins of nine overlapping stories, but the author succeeds wonderfully by filling her book with memorable details, photographs and contexts for each of these women. I felt very well guided through the complexities of their relationships with each other and to the men of the family, and the influences they exerted, many of which have not been as clearly profiled in biographies focusing on the Roosevelt men. I was grateful for the large doses of social historical context, which helped me appreciate the scope of some of the lesser-known women's accomplishments. Caroli writes in the most affecting terms, clearly delineating each personality in her own right and in terms of the mark she left on American history. The choice to approach these women as a large group differentiates this book from other Roosevelt biographies and underlines the qualities of immense energy, curiosity, and forcefulness of character which are the common threads of these women's lives.

I found it a fascinating read and could not put the book down.

This book brings the Roosevelt women alive.
I wasn't expecting to like this book. The Roosevelt women I knew about, like Eleanor, seemed too wealthy and upper class to interest me. However, once I started reading (at a friend's recommendation), I was drawn into each of these Roosevelt women's stories. The history and politics in the book were easy to grasp, and everything that happened in the lives of the women discussed was made vivid and dramatic by the author. I wish I could sit down with her and have a cup of coffee and hear about the parts she left out.

Strong men, stronger women...
In The Roosevelt Women by Betty Boyd Caroli, the author gives us a fascinating look at the Roosevelt women from primarily the Oyster Bay branch of this venerable family. Most of us have a general knowledge of presidents Theodore Roosevelt (TR) and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR). We also have some idea of the contributions of Eleanor Roosevelt to the world stage. The story of Eleanor Roosevelt and her female kin (grandmother, aunts and cousins) is in some respects even more remarkable than that of the Roosevelt men.

The book starts with Martha "Mittie" Bulloch Roosevelt, TR's mother. This beautiful Southern Belle married the senior Theodore Roosevelt. While often times spoiled, fragile and frivolous, she was also a caring mother and patient teacher to her children. According to Caroli, she withdrew from "family competition" in order that her plain daughters would "feel superior to her, to develop both wit and charm sufficient to outshine her inordinately good looks." Though she never lived to see her four granddaughters, they all credited her for her contributions to the Roosevelt family.

Mittie's daughters, Anna Roosevelt Cowles and Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, provide the most engrossing characters in The Roosevelt Women. While not well schooled, they were both bright, articulate and politically astute women. They surrounded themselves with powerful, witty and intelligent men and their houses were the center of lively and sparkling conversation. In later life, Corinne became a published poet and a public speaker. While these sisters were trailblazers in many ways, they were content to stay in the shadow of their more famous brother, TR, and never flaunted their relationship with him. Yet, they did everything in their power to help TR reach his political goals. It has been said that if Anna, Corinne and Teddy were all alive today, the women would make better presidential material.

Subsequent chapters cover the lives of Mittie's daughter-in-law, Edith (TR's second wife), Eleanor Roosevelt, Corinne Robinson Alsop (Corinne's daughter), Alice Longworth (TR's oldest daughter), and Ethel Derby (TR's youngest daughter). "Princess Alice" is probably the most colorful of the group and was considered the "other Washington Monument." TR once said of his wayward and headstrong daughter "I can run the country, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both."

The Roosevelt Women is a very readable book, and often seems more like a novel than a work of nonfiction. But this is by no means the complete story of all the Roosevelt women, as there is very little on the Hyde Park side of the family (Eleanor Roosevelt was an Oyster Bay Roosevelt before she married her 5th cousin, Franklin) Sara Delano Roosevelt (FDR's mom) does not rate her own chapter. Also, there are no women covered in depth after the generation of Mittie's granddaughters. Still, these criticisms aside, this is a book not to be missed by any true Roosevelt fan.