Throughout history, many families have occupied the public eye in American politics, but none before the Roosevelts--and none since--stood on opposing sides of the party divide. Marc Peyser and Timothy Dwyer examine how this philosophical chasm affected the relationship of Eleanor Roosevelt and Alice Roosevelt Longworth, cousins and two of the 20th century's most influential women in Washington, D.C.
Alice, the oldest child of Theodore Roosevelt, and Eleanor, the oldest of Theodore's brother Elliott, grew up together, close friends as well as first cousins. Despite their friendship and family ties, the two Roosevelts possessed very different personalities. As Alice followed her father and, later, her husband into Republican politics and Eleanor shared her husband's liberal Democratic beliefs, battle lines were drawn between the two women for an ideological war that lasted decades.
Using historical documentation as well as insights from family and friends--e.g., Eleanor, rather than Alice, was often said to be more like Teddy--Peyser and Dwyer artfully piece together this epic rivalry they describe as "plucked from not one but two classic story lines: daughters competing for the patriarch's love, and the good girl versus the bad girl."
Hissing Cousins is a comprehensive, nonpartisan, often humorous narrative of a complex family with insecurities, secrets and passions. The issues that drove the Roosevelts read like a list of modern U.S. current events--foreign policy, gender rights, civil rights, national health and unemployment insurance--making their story as relevant as it is fascinating and informative. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts