A well-deserved first biography.
An enthusiastic life of “the first person, man or woman, to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”
An adviser to presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to Lyndon Johnson, Anna Rosenberg (1899-1983) was a prominent national figure whose present obscurity is perplexing. Gorham, a lawyer and American history teacher, doesn’t fully explain why she is often forgotten, but he delivers a vivid account of her eventful life. The daughter of Jewish immigrants, Rosenberg thrived in cutthroat Tammany Hall and, as a sideline, established one of America’s first public relations agencies, quickly acquiring the reputation as a problem solver. Still in her 20s, she caught the attention of Roosevelt, who was beginning his rise in New York politics. FDR loved workaholic loyalists who were also entertaining companions during his off hours. Even history buffs may be surprised as Gorham recounts the next 20 years, during which Rosenberg, a member of FDR’s inner circle, became a leading “fixer,” exerting more influence than Cabinet members (whom FDR tended to ignore). Her name appeared regularly in newspaper articles, editorials, and national magazine profiles. According to one journalist, “Mrs. Rosenberg was regarded in Washington as possibly the closest person to President Roosevelt with the exception of Harry Hopkins.” Other than John F. Kennedy, Roosevelt’s predecessors respected her talents, and Gen. George Marshall asked her personally to become assistant secretary of defense, his chief aide. Rosenberg’s sense of justice took precedence over political expediency, and Gorham chronicles her leading role in the creation of the GI Bill and desegregation of wartime industries, the armed forces, and schools. An unabashed liberal with no national constituency, she became a lightning rod for extremists during the McCarthy era. Readers may prefer to skim long sections devoted to attacks by right-wing columnists and congressmen during the 1950s, but they may be pleasantly surprised to learn that today’s extremists are hardly unique in their often baseless attacks.
A well-deserved first biography.Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2023
ISBN: 9780806542003
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Citadel/Kensington
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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