Beloved Island: Franklin & Eleanor and the Legacy of Campobello

by Jonas Klein

Book Overview

This biography chronicles the lives of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, focusing on the influence of their summer home on Campobello Island. This personal history examines the Roosevelts' heritage and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0839710364
• ISBN13: 9780839710363
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Paul S. Eriksson
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

The daily lives of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt

Beloved Island: Franklin & Eleanor And The Legacy Of Campobello by Jonas Klein is a touching, memorable, biographical portrayal of two genuinely great figures of 20th Century American history. Here presented are the daily lives of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, and how their summer home on Campobello Island influenced them, and rounds out an impressive and painstaking recreation of their personal experiences with anecdotes, personal letters, and the memories of aides, family, and friends. A welcome and much appreciated contribution to the growing library of literature dedicated to the life, thought, and achievements of this politically and socially influential (and often controversial) couple, Beloved Island is an informative and insightful study of the often-hidden inner side of these two remarkable American leaders.

Move Over, Stephen Ambrose

This is a well-researched and well-written glimpse of one of the most famous and influential couples of the 20th Century. It reads extremely well while casting new light on two already-much studied lives but from an entirely new perspective. Jonas Klein proposes that FDR and Eleanor were in some measure defined by the Campobello experience and makes a credible case for it.Before picking up Beloved Island I had just finished reading one more of Stephen AmbroseÕ books on World War II and, quite frankly, had tired a little of the rhythm and predictability in his technique of stringing together many individual Òoral historiesÓ to create a coherent whole. He does it very well, of course, but Jonas Klein does it better. Working mostly from snapshot detail in correspondence, I presume, Klein succeeds in portraying the larger portraits of personality, emotion, relationships, and other intangibles that make figures from history what they really are.Though not quite a Òone sittingÓ experience, this little book leads us gently to further thought and deeper understanding about Franklin and Eleanor. ItÕs a good book.

Exceptionally well researched & well-written

Beloved Island: Franklin & Eleanor And The Legacy Of Campobello examines how the Roosevelt summer home on New Brunswick's Campobello Island (a remote Canadian location) had a significant physical and emotional influence on their lives and the events of their day. While acknowledging the Roosevelt's' traditions and background, Jonas Klein presents a fresh perspective on their public trials and triumphs as well as their personal frustrations and private disappointments as showcased by their Campobello residency. It was at Campobello that Franklin was stricken with polio, that Eleanor found peace and refuge from a demanding and unsympathetic world, and that their personal and political relationship as formed in a manner that would serve them both to the end of their lives. Exceptionally well researched, well-written, insightful, informative, and totally engaging biography.