No Ordinary Time: A Look at Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt's Experiences on the Home Front During World War II

margaret gallaugher: This is my second No Ordinary Time, as I gave away my cherished first copy. I’m reading it for the 3rd time. A magnificent book, so inspiring.

United States on Nov 10, 2023

Linda: Excellent! Informative, well written. Big picture and intimate. A page-turner.

Canada on Jul 19, 2020

Candian reader: This is rather annoying. Pls la la la la John hi yt? Uy oh la 'll lop the junk mail

Canada on Jul 26, 2018

Gwen Hawkins: This history was very enlightening when it dwelt on Franklin and Eleanor and their differing roles, but readers from other countries, who came to the aid of the British long before the US, have reason to feel overlooked and their efforts inferior if viewed from this account. The book is well researched but did we need to know ALL those numbers? All in all it was a worthwhile read.

Canada on Jun 07, 2018

Gary Moreau, Author: This is a remarkable book about one of America’s most remarkable power couples during a truly remarkable period in world history. And it’s told, delightfully and effectively, largely through narrative dialogue. One can only imagine the hours of research that required; much less a level of access that few other historians could possibly command.

The writing is magnificent, and somehow Goodwin manages to bring us up close and personal with the Roosevelts while simultaneously coloring in all of the contextual detail of a world at war. It is really quite fascinating to think of the sheer scale at which world leaders were forced to think at the time. The petty disputes we seem to be obsessed with today quickly recede into irrelevance by comparison.

Several things struck me quite intensely. The first is the discovery of just how divided the US was on the brink of entering the war. It is easy, and perhaps tempting, to believe that our politics have never been more divided than they are today, but that is not an entirely accurate assessment.

While that may or may not be reassuring to anyone, it is a source of optimism if you follow the story through. Wherever you...

United States on May 18, 2018

Jerry George: This account of the Roosevelts at the home front in the second world war is very detailed; Franklin comes across as an adept and at times devious politician who managed to reconcile conflicting views and actually get things done. Eleanor shines as almost messianic in her efforts to better the lives of the poor, African Americans, women and the under privileged. The account of America in the war years is masterfully portrayed by Goodwin. The periodic pauses indicated in the narrative makes the book easy to put down and take up again later; because of its length, thi is a very desirable feature. On the whole it is a comprehensive overview of the public lives of two significant twentieth century leaders.

Canada on Jul 04, 2016

Clem: When Franklin Roosevelt was the President of the United States, he would sometimes deliver speeches to the American people via radio that he dubbed “Fireside Chats”. His idea was to give a talk to the American people, from time to time, about relevant current events in a language that the people could truly understand. He didn’t want to overwhelm them with government jargon, nor get technical with the comings and goings of the country. He wished to simply talk to the people so that they would have a full, rich understanding of whatever was his topic of the chat. I mention this as I begin my review of this book because this seems the overall goal of author Doris Kearns Goodwin as well. She doesn’t set out to overburden the reader with masses of detail, she simply sets out to tell a wonderful, absorbing story.

This book is not an exhaustive biography of Franklin and/or Eleanor Roosevelt. Nor is it a sequential, detailed account of the accomplishments of the 32nd President’s administration. No, there are plenty of books out there for you if that is what you are wanting. This book, instead, tells a magnificent story of the President and the First Lady as they guided...

United States on Mar 01, 2015

C. Ball: It is easy to see why this book won the Pulitzer Prize: there can surely be no better examination of the American home-front during World War II: its slow adjustment from isolation to dedicated involvement, the adjustment of the economy and business from the Depression to a war footing, the social progress made by women and African-Americans and the disgraceful treatment of Japanese-Americans.

Goodwin demonstrates just how entwined were the endeavours of the soldiers at the battlefront and the domestic workers at home, how much the eventual Allied victory relied on the immense manufacturing capability of the American economy. The Allies didn't win World War II through superior soldiering or strategy; the Axis powers were simply swamped by the overwhelming might of the American military-industrial complex. And all of these efforts, of industry and business and economics and labour, were all guided and shaped by the hand of Franklin Roosevelt, with Eleanor at his side serving as his eyes and ears where the crippled Roosevelt could not go, forging a independent role for herself and revolutionising the role of First Lady.

It must surely be one of the great what-ifs of...

United Kingdom on Nov 30, 2014