The candles she lit

The Candles She Lit brings to the reader for the first time untold stories of people whose lives had been dramatically changed - sometimes even saved - by the solace and practical aid of Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a woman of the people. Her life is a shining example of the difference one person can make, an extraordinary picture of a woman's service to mankind. As First Lady and during the long years after the White House, Mrs. Roosevelt worked untiringly to enhance the welfare and dignity of people everywhere. Every appeal for help was answered, every letter of the hundreds she received daily got a reply. Everyone who came into her orbit, whether they were kings or servants, were treated with the same warmth and courteousness. Yet, she was not a paragon of virtue; she could get angry, she could laugh, mostly at herself, and she suffered a great deal. The Candles She Lit is both a brief biography of Eleanor Roosevelt and a testimony to the positive and influential effect she had on others. Youth, family, young adulthood and her marriage to Franklin, the White House period, and the years alone are richly portrayed. The picture that emerges is of an idealistic, intelligent, honest, and compassionate woman always ready to reach out to those in need. The role of Eleanor Roosevelt in the drafting of "The Declaration of Human Rights" is also pointed out. She considered the Declaration her "crowning achievement" because it encompasses every human being on our planet. Stella K. Hershan draws on the testimony of numerous people from all walks of life. Anecdotes, stories, and memories of members of her staff, school children, college students, survivors of the Holocaust, the famous and the not famous, provide a loving testimonial to the memory of one of the greatest women of the twentieth century.