Synopses & Reviews
In
Franklin and Lucy, acclaimed author and historian Joseph E. Persico explores FDRs romance with Lucy Rutherfurd. Persicos provocative conclusions about their relationship are informed by a revealing range of sources, including never-before-published letters and documents from Lucy Rutherfurds estate that attest to the intensity of the affair, which lasted much longer than was previously acknowledged.
FDRs connection with Lucy also creates an opportunity for Persico to take a more penetrating look at the other women in FDRs life. We come to see more clearly how FDRs infidelity contributed to Eleanor Roosevelts eventual transformation from a repressed Victorian to perhaps the greatest American woman of her century; how FDRs strong-willed mother helped to strengthen his resolve in overcoming personal and public adversity; and how both paramours and platonic friends completed the world that FDR inhabited. In focusing on Lucy Rutherfurd and the other women who mattered to Roosevelt, Persico renders the most intimate portrait yet of an enigmatic giant of American history.
About the Author
Joseph E. Persico is the author of Roosevelts Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage; Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day, 1918-World War I and Its Violent Climax; Piercing the Reich; and Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial, which was made into a television docudrama. He also collaborated with Colin Powell on his autobiography, My American Journey. He lives in Guilderland, New York.