A muscular and admiring profile in moral courage.
This biography of Eleanor Roosevelt portrays her as a tireless champion of the underdog and a high-profile advocate for civil and human rights.
Using her subject’s first name, Cooper focuses on Eleanor’s involvement in the civil rights movement but notes that even in her 30s she “paid virtually no attention to the difficulties of African Americans who faced prejudice every day…despite the fact she was aware of the turmoil in the black community.” Not until she was first lady did racial injustice gain Eleanor’s full attention, partly due to her surrounding herself with such activists as Mary McLeod Bethune, Walter White, and Pauli Murray. Cooper writes that an awakening came when she helped raise money for Arthurdale, a planned community in West Virginia for out-of-work coal miners. Eleanor was shocked to learn that whites who had lived together with blacks in poverty for decades refused to let them join the community. This led Eleanor to understand “how corrosive the systemic segregation of African Americans was.” Cooper chronicles how she did everything possible to keep civil rights a focus of the Roosevelt administration, including such piquant details as her insistence on attending a public event against the advice of the FBI and with her pistol to protect herself against the Klan, which had issued a $25,000 bounty. Cooper is silent on Roosevelt’s romantic relations with other women, however.
A muscular and admiring profile in moral courage. (photos, timeline, notes, bibliography) (Biography. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2295-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
During the Great Depression, women's ice-hockey teams across Canada fought an uphill battle to scrape together enough money...
In the 1930s, the Canadian female ice-hockey team called the Rivulettes dominated the ice.
During the Great Depression, women's ice-hockey teams across Canada fought an uphill battle to scrape together enough money to play. From 1931-1940, the Preston Rivulettes, led by Hilda Ranscome, overwhelmed all other teams, capturing the national title in the four years that they could afford to travel far enough to compete for it. With the pressure of the war, and because they were no longer capturing fan enthusiasm since they always won, the Rivulettes disbanded in 1942. After the war, the culture had changed, and women’s ice hockey nearly disappeared until a recent rebirth. This effort describes in detail many of the key games the team played over that decade and the way that their remarkable record has been largely ignored by the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Though the book effectively captures the scrappy nature of the games (with numerous penalties in each for high sticking and fighting), disappointingly, it lacks any significant biographical information on team members. Only a couple are very briefly sketched. Readers will wonder what made this team so great; more information about the players might have provided key insights.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55277-721-3
Page Count: 136
Publisher: James Lorimer
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
An enlightening account full of compelling stories of survival and perseverance. Pair this with Karen Hesse’s fictional...
A little-known story from World War II shows the unique role played by a small group of military personal and native civilians in a remote region of the county.
The role of Alaska in World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor is not often told. “Decades after World War II, the U. S. government kept the documents about the Japanese invasion of Alaska classified, and the Americans who were there when it happened didn’t want to talk about it.” The Pearl Harbor attack left the western coast vulnerable, and the decision-making concerning defense of the Alaska’s Aleutian Islands revealed many military, geographic and social issues. Problems included unpredictable foggy weather at a time of limited satellite technology and what to do about the Aleutian islanders, who had never been away from their isolated homes. The story illuminates the cultural differences between the American and Japanese cultures at that time as well as the reluctance of the U.S. government to treat the native Alaskans as full citizens. The narrative is full of details, and there are times when it is difficult to follow all the threads. Fortunately, the text is supported by many photographs of those involved. Maps, including a strategic military map, increase the level of specificity.
An enlightening account full of compelling stories of survival and perseverance. Pair this with Karen Hesse’s fictional account, Aleutian Sparrow (2003). (sources, index) (Nonfiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-545-29654-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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