Courage in a Dangerous World: The Political Writings of Eleanor Roosevelt

Although Elanor Roosevelt's life and work have ispired 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 Elanor 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 experts 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.

What an amazing collection! Eleanor Roosevelt was truly a woman ahead of her times, and this book uses her own words to illustrate just how forward-thinking she was. The depth and bredth of her opinions, her reasoning, and her skill at conveying her ideas to the general public never failed to astound me through reading and rereading the selections. Allida Black has done an incredible amount of work to bring this volume to fruition, and all the trouble she has taken is absolutely worthwhile. Every essay is full of the ideas and actions for which Roosevelt continues to be known and respected. Who should read this book? Anyone looking for strong ideas about the world and what it should be like. Anyone looking for ways to affect lives for good. Anyone who needs a role model, something to aspire to, or something to work toward.

Much has been written about Eleanor Roosevelt but this collection gives us the chance to read her own words. What an amazing and astute woman. There is almost no current issue that Eleanor Roosevelt did not foresee, analyze, and have a definate position on--race, civil liberties, international interdependence, government support of the arts, working women/mothers. Allida Black has assembled documents and out-of-print materials that would be terribly difficult for most people to access. Black's introductions to each section are clear and helpful and work to dispel the myth of Roosevelt as basically the "eyes and legs" of her husband or the woman of sorrow who only turned to political life after her husband's affair. Anyone reading this collection will come to appreciate Roosevelt for the powerful and courageous person she was--and see how compassionate to an extraordinary degree she was. Even a sampling of these writings will make you want to get involved and not sit by the wayside. For activists, it will be a validation for caring.