In two parts, the second includes the Household Book which was kept by Sara Delano Roosevelt from 1879 to 1931 of primarily her favorite recipes, but also of home remedies (from aiding laying hens to curing croup) and formulae. In the first part the authors have given the background to this Household Book which is also the background of the young Franklin D. Roosevelt and his forebears. There is Sara's childhood and rearing among the substantial Hudson River aristocracy; her meeting with James Roosevelt, widower and many years her senior; the house itself; the birth of Franklin, the death of James, and the last years after Franklin's marriage and his rapidly increasing family... There's a pleasantly personal, familiar quality to this revival of an earlier day and this record holds further value as supplementary source material on this famous family.