“And Grandmother Hall really imagines that she can raise Eleanor and her two brothers differently than these children were raised. And if she is very strict and everything is very regimented and ordered and disciplined, that they will become the perfect children who her own children did not become.” IfsChildrenTwoPerfectImagineBrotherRaisesRaisedGrandmotherHallsImagine ThatStrictEleanorTwo BrothersPerfect Child Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“In one way, it is this sense of order and also love that, I think, really saved Eleanor Roosevelt's life. And in her own writing, she's very warm about her grandmother, even though, if you look at contemporary accounts, they're accounts of horror at the Dickensian scene that Tivoli represents: bleak and drear and dark and unhappy. But Eleanor Roosevelt in her own writings is not very unhappy about Tivoli.” IfsThinkingWayWritingLooksOrderDarkHorrorSceneAccountsWarmSavedUnhappyContemporaryOne WayGrandmotherBleakEleanor Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“I mean, if you pause over what it means at the age of 76 that Eleanor Roosevelt wrote, the happiest single day of her life was the day she made the first team at field hockey. Field hockey is a team sport. Field hockey is a knockabout - I mean, picture Allenswood, the swamps of north London. It's a messy sport. So she really enjoyed playing this rough-and-tumble sport in the mud of Allenswood, a team sport. And she was very competitive. And she loved being competitive, and she loved to win. And that, I think, was all of the things that Allenswood enabled.” IfsThinkingFirstsMeanMadeAgeWinningSportsTeamFieldsLondonEnjoyedRoughHockeyPausesMudMessySwampsEleanorSports TeamField Hockey Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“And if you look at pictures of Eleanor between 1918 and 1921, she becomes anorexic. She really loses a tremendous amount of weight. That's when her teeth really go bad. It's a terrible, terrible time for her. And she has five children, ranging in age from three to 10. It's an emotionally terrible ordeal.” IfsLooksChildrenAgeThreeLosesFiveAmountTerribleWeightTeethEleanorOrdealsAnorexicsTerrible Times Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
“Eleanor Roosevelt doesn't ever do anything that is going to hurt her husband. She tries things out on him. She gets permission to do things. The amazing thing, I think, historically, is that he says, "Go do it. If you can make this happen, I'll follow you."” IfsThinkingTryingHappensHurtHusbandPermissionAmazing ThingsEleanor Author:Blanche Wiesen Cook
