Eleanor Roosevelt's loveless marriage with FDR was no secret, and she had a cold relationship with most of her family, as well. Yet she was a warm person, beloved by friends, and her humanitarian work still influences the world today. Burns shows how Eleanor was shaped by her father Elliott, a lost spirit with a bittersweet story. Brother to Theodore Roosevelt, Elliot would eventually succumb to alcoholism and would be exiled to the Virginia countryside. But he kept up a close correspondence with his daughter. Burns reveals new facets to the lives of these pillars of American history.