She attended boarding school inFrance, was the First Lady of the United States for 12 years, visited Americansin foreign lands during World War II, spoke out for equal rights for all, was arepresentative to the United Nations and more.

In her autobiography,Eleanor Roosevelt paints a wonderful self-portrait, sharing her life from thoseawkward teenage years to being a President's wife to working as a journalist andbeyond. She writes of her childhood and how she was always taller than the othergirls her age, always wanting to fit in. She also reveals the adjustments she hadto make early in her marriage to Franklin Delano Roosevelt to try to fit her highstandards of what a good wife should be.

Eleanor's story is altogetherwonderful, a tale one expects to find only in fiction. She is a knobby-kneed,buck-toothed girl who becomes successful - in fact, one of the most influentialAmerican women of the 20th century. Knowing that one woman affected so manypeople is truly a realization of the power and strength of the human spirit. Shewrites in a manner that magnifies her faults and humbles many of heraccomplishments, as she speaks directly to the reader. The book's length may seemintimidating, but it is definitely worth the read. I thoroughly enjoyed learningabout Eleanor and President Roosevelt's struggles through the eyes of the personwho knew him best.

Eleanor Roosevelt was an amazing woman.