Blanche Wiesen Cook

Blanche Wiesen Cook (born April 20, 1941 in New York City), Distinguished Professor of history at John Jay College in the City University of New York, is the author of Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume One 1884–1933, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize winning biography of Eleanor Roosevelt. Cook's biography is controversial because of her claims that Roosevelt had a lesbian affair with reporter Lorena Hickok. Ms. Cook, who is openly gay, is also the author of Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume 2 , The Defining Years, 1933–1938, and The Declassified Eisenhower: A Divided Legacy of Peace and Political Warfare. On October 21, 2013, the historian Douglas Brinkley mentioned on the television program "First Ladies" on CSPAN, that Professor Cook was currently writing Volume 3 of her Eleanor Roosevelt series. She was also interviewed for and featured in Ken Burns' 2014 PBS TV documentary The Roosevelts: An Intimate Portrait.

She received the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement from Publishing Triangle in 2010.

External links

• Profile from the Graduate Center, City University of New York
• New York Times Interview, June 22, 1999
• Interview, PBS: The American Experience
• Appearances on C-SPAN
  • Booknotes interview with Cook on Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume 1, 1884–1933, April 11, 1993.