Author David Michaelis: Eleanor
On Thursday, December 16, 2021, Darien Library and Ferguson Library welcomed David Michaelis, author of Eleanor.
In Eleanor, a New York Times bestseller by David Michaelis, the author paints a portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt as an avatar of democracy whose agency as America’s longest-serving First Lady, diplomat, activist and humanitarian made her one of the world’s most widely admired and influential figures of the 20th century.
About the Book
Eleanor Roosevelt spent most of her life in the spotlight, rising from a shy, self-conscious girl from a well-known wealthy family to an iconic First Lady and activist, yet few really knew her. Featuring new interviews and resources that no biographer has previously referenced, Michaelis recounts Eleanor’s troubled childhood with an alcoholic father and affectless mother, her complicated marriage and partnership with the great President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, her trailblazing 12 years as First Lady, and her humanitarian accomplishments. Eleanor chronicles not only the timeline of her life and achievements, such as guiding the drafting of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but gives us a universally relatable story of a great woman’s lifelong search for love. Michaelis has a lively cinematic style and the lengthy odyssey flies by, as many of the best biographies do, and reaffirms her as an epic perennial figure of democracy whom the world treasures.
About the Author
David Michaelis is the New York Times bestselling author of Schulz and Peanuts and N. C. Wyeth, which won the Ambassador Book Award for Biography. His writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, American Heritage, LIFE, Reader’s Digest, American Scholar, and Best American Essays.