I admit I'm a sucker for books about the Roosevelts, especially Eleanor and Franklin. As a result there is little information out there that I haven't read somewhere already. That is the case with this book. It is very readable and well done but there is nothing really new here. It focuses more on their personal relationships than the politics although you can't have a book about the Roosevelts without including some politics. Their household of family, staffers, and friends would be referred to as an entourage (or posse ☺) nowadays. Franklin's relationships with Lucy Mercer, Missy LeHand, Daisy Suckley, and other women are well documented as are Eleanor's with Lorena Hickok and her bodyguard, Earl Miller. Whether or not all of those relationships were sexual is still a matter of opinion and Rowley contends that most were. Rowley is gentler in her comments about Franklin's domineering mother, Sara Delano, than most Roosevelt biographers. Obviously a 300+ page book does not have the amount of information that are in the Joseph Lash and Doris Kearns Goodwin volumes or Eleanor's own writings. But this is a pretty good overview that is not as dry as some of the other books.
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