At a finishing school in England at the turn of the century, ... Eleanor Roosevelt reads on a couch in her living room at Val-Kill cottage in Poughkeepsie, New York, in March 1951.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency began in 1933, the U.S. was in the throes of the Great Depression, and millions were struggling to stave off starvation.

Eleanor cared nothing about female fashion or protocol. She could happily journey off to England for a visit with King George and Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mother Mary, and the Winston Churchills ...