Reviews for No ordinary time

The average rating for No ordinary time based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-02-04 00:00:00 Jim Adam “The first thing Eleanor [Roosevelt] noticed when she went into her husband’s study was his ‘deadly calm’ composure. While his aides and Cabinet members were running in and out in a state of excitement, panic, and irritation, [Franklin D. Roosevelt] was sitting quietly at his desk, absorbing the news from Hawaii as it continued to flow in – ‘each report more terrible than the last.’ Though he looked strained and tired, Eleanor observed, ‘he was completely calm. His reaction to any event was always to be calm. If it was something that was bad, he just became almost like an iceberg, and there was never the slightest emotion that was allowed to show.’ Sumner Welles agreed with Eleanor’s assessment. In all the situations over the years in which he had seen the president, he ‘had never had such reason to admire him…’” - Doris Kearns Goodwin, No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II Doris Kearns Goodwin’s No Ordinary Time is an unusual World War II book. There are no descriptions of clashing armies, no in-depth armchair analyses of battlefield strategies, no biographical sketches of medal-bedecked generals moving their men like so many pawns. This is World War II as viewed from the American home front, and specifically through the eyes of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. It is a marvelous hybrid historical narrative and biographical portraiture. No Ordinary Time begins in 1940, as Nazi Germany invades France, Luxembourg, and the Low Countries (ending the so-called Sitzkrieg, the period of inactivity following Great Britain’s and France’s declarations of war against the Third Reich). It ends in 1945, with the death of President Roosevelt. The events in between – spoiler alert! – are momentous. This 600-page volume covers a wide array of subjects. In many ways, it is a sweeping look at life during war, but away from war. Some of the ground covered is standard for most World War II histories. There is Roosevelt’s struggle with the America First isolationist faction, the initiation of a peace time draft, and the famous Lend-Lease bill that turned the United States into the “Arsenal of Democracy.” While this ground has been well-covered, it is worth going over again, as FDR's preparations assured that when war did arrive on America's doorstep, she was far more prepared than in 1917 (when U.S. troops had been shipped overseas without equipment, to be armed and fed by Great Britain and France). To her credit, Goodwin also devotes a good bit of time to other topics that generally don’t receive nearly enough attention. For instance, she highlights the lowlights of race and racism in 1940s America. Black contributions to World War II are typically relegated to brief mentions of the (admittedly illustrious) Tuskegee Airmen. Goodwin shifts the focus to America’s still-segregated Army, its still-segregated Navy, and the deplorable domestic treatment of blacks, including black munitions workers, which virtually assured that the newly-revitalized economy would only benefit certain segments of the population. [D]iscrimination in the mushrooming defense industry continued unabated. All over the country, new war plants were refusing to hire blacks. “Negroes will be considered only as janitors,” the general manager of North American Aviation publicly asserted. “It is the company policy not to employ them as mechanics and aircraft workers.” In Kansas City, Standard Steel told the Urban League: “We have not had a Negro working in 25 years and do not plan to start now.” And from Vultee Air in California a blanket statement was issued: “It is not the policy of this company to employ other than the Caucasian race.” No Ordinary Time includes several large sections covering this oft-overlooked reality. While the American contribution to World War II is ultimately a grand triumph, there is no escaping the fact that America’s treatment of black citizens (segregated facilities, lynching, suppressed votes, suppressed juries) is a blemish upon that achievement. Indeed, many facets bear uncomfortable similarities to Hitler’s Germany. (Hitler and Goebbels – two smirking mass murderers – liked to draw the analogy themselves, so it’s also important to note there were massive dissimilarities as well, which are obvious enough they do not require mention). Despite its scope, No Ordinary Time is also quite intimate. In a very real way, it is a household drama, starring Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, and a rotating cast of White House-crashers. No matter what is going on in the world, everything that Goodwin writes about comes back to the couple living in the Executive Mansion. And that’s okay. When you finish No Ordinary Time, you’ll be hard-pressed to think up a more fascinating, twisted, and compellingly dysfunctional (yet functioning) administration. FDR’s White House is unbelievable. The shenanigans that took place during his four terms (12 years) make John Kennedy’s sex-filled fake-Camelot look like a Family Circus cartoon. Well, that's overstating it. But still, it was wild. Among the lodgers in the People’s House were Missy LeHand, the President’s personal secretary and possible mistress, and Lorena Hickok, a one-time journalist in love with Eleanor. (It is unlikely that Eleanor, who was admittedly closed-off in matters of the heart, ever consummated a relationship with Hickok, though this is speculation). Goodwin meticulously documents the extracurricular drama (aided and abetted by a press corps with far more discretion than their modern-day counterparts), and makes good use of the White House logs to track the comings and goings of visitors. She holds nothing back, and is ready to answer all your questions, even the ones you didn’t ask (such as her assertion that FDR’s polio did not cause a lack of sexual function). Among many other things, No Ordinary Time is a portrait of a marriage: an oddly paired, emotionally destructive, unfathomably complex union. Clearly, FDR needed outlets – mental, if not physical – that Eleanor could not provide. Likewise, Eleanor needed support and attention that she never received from her husband. Perhaps, both of them would have been happier had they never met. Eleanor certainly would have been. She knew of her husband’s affair with Lucy Mercer, probably suspected an affair with Missy LeHand, and had to watch him flirt with Martha, the crown princess of Norway. She also had to endure FDR’s carelessness, his tactlessness, and his occasional casual cruelty. FDR is, by any metric, one of our greatest and most transformational presidents. He was also sort of a jerk. Yet, Goodwin persuasively argues that – emotional incompatibility aside – they made a formidable political team. FDR dedicated himself to winning the war, to the extent that he was willing to bargain away many of his New Deal accomplishments to that end. He focused on the global picture, the strategy, and the mobilization. He was single-minded in his dedication to Axis destruction. Eleanor provided the boots on the ground, both literally and figuratively. She traveled the country tirelessly, meeting with constituents, providing the personal touch. She met with interest groups and soothed ruffled feathers. She fought to protect the New Deal legacy, and also to broaden the umbrella to include the black community. If Eleanor had turned down FDR’s proposal of marriage, life might have been easier; at the same time, and to his credit, FDR allowed her to achieve greatness in her own right. Goodwin’s portrait of Eleanor by itself makes No Ordinary Time a worthwhile read. Her views were amazingly modern and inclusive, and she had the guts to defend them at a time when many people didn't want to hear any opinion from a woman. In many ways, she was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s conscience. Had she been born a bit later, she might have risen to high office herself. Doris Kearns Goodwin is not just a historian, but a national treasure. When she takes on a topic, you can rest assured you are in good hands. She is a master at readable popular history that is nevertheless provocative, learned, and thoughtful. No Ordinary Time is no exception. It is minutely researched, beautifully written, and tells a compelling story that combines elements of world-historical import with scenes from the weirdest soap opera ever conceived. It is part history, part biography, part TMZ, and always engaging.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-10-19 00:00:00 John Burch A truly memorable book. Doris Kearns Goodwin is a fine writer who manages to transform seemingly insignificant snippets of data into compelling reading. This volume covers the period from May, 1939 to April, 1945 and focuses on what was going on in the U.S. through the actions and writings of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and others close to them. It truly deserves its Pulitzer Prize and the four or more other awards and accolades it garnered. I consider myself reasonably knowledgeable about the period the book covers but I discovered a ton of new information. Goodwin, also, not only relates the facts, she is not afraid to state what she sees as the implications of what has happened. A prime example is the beginning of the integration of Negroes into the work force at all skill levels. There are many others. Her deft handling of the complicated relationship that Eleanor and FDR had allows the reader to see its many layers without being hit over the head with "juicy" tidbits. Goodwin never loses focus, throughout, while still managing to keep the reader chronologically oriented to events outside the President and his wife's immediate concerns. I was appreciative of how well Goodwin tied up loose ends in the last chapter, "A New Country Is Being Born" and the short "Afterword". It really gives the reader a sense of closure while hinting at what will follow after FDR's death. This book comes as close as possible to the ideal of a factual history being as interesting to read as a novel.