Kindred Souls : The Devoted Friendship of Eleanor Roosevelt and Dr. David Gurewitsch

The poignant and unforgettable true account of the deep, loving friendship between a handsome physician and the former First Lady , as seen on PBS{u2019}s The Roosevelts: An Intimate History ?I love you as I love and have never loved anyone else.? {u2014}Eleanor Roosevelt in a letter to Dr. David Gurewitsch, 1955 She was the most famous and admired woman in America. He was a strikingly handsome doctor, eighteen years her junior. Eleanor Roosevelt first met David Gurewitsch in 1944. He was making a house call to a patient when the door opened to reveal the wife of the president of the United States, who had come to help her sick friend. A year later, Gurewitsch was Mrs. Roosevelt{u2019}s personal physician, on his way to becoming the great lady{u2019}s dearest companion{u2014}a relationship that would endure until Mrs. Roosevelt{u2019}s death in 1962. Recounting the details of this remarkable union is an intimately involved chronicler: Gurewitsch{u2019}s wife, Edna. Kindred Souls is a rare love story{u2014}the tale of a friendship between two extraordinary people, based on trust, exchange of confidences, and profound interest in and respect for each other{u2019}s work. With perceptiveness, compassion, admiration, and deep affection, the author recalls the final decade and a half of the former First Lady{u2019}s exceptional life, from her first encounter with the man who would become Mrs. Gurewitsch{u2019}s husband through the blossoming of a unique bond and platonic love. Blended into her tender reminiscences are excerpts from the enduring correspondence between Dr. Gurewitsch and the First Lady, and a collection of personal photographs of the Gurewitsch and Roosevelt families. The result is a revealing portrait of one of the twentieth century{u2019}s most beloved icons in the last years of her life{u2014}a woman whom the author warmly praises as ?one of the few people in this world in which greatness and modesty could coexist.? The poignant and unforgettable true account of the deep, loving friendship between a handsome physician and the former First Lady & ldquo;I love you as I love and have never loved anyone else. & rdquo; & mdash;Eleanor Roosevelt in a letter to Dr. David Gurewitsch, 1955 She was the most famous and admired woman in America. He was a strikingly handsome doctor, eighteen years her junior. Eleanor Roosevelt first met David Gurewitsch in 1944. He was making a house call to a patient when the door opened to reveal the wife of the president of the United States, who had come to help her sick friend. A year later, Gurewitsch was Mrs. Roosevelt & rsquo;s personal physician, on his way to becoming the great lady & rsquo;s dearest companion & mdash;a relationship that would endure until Mrs. Roosevelt & rsquo;s death in 1962. Recounting the details of this remarkable union is an intimately involved chronicler: Gurewitsch & rsquo;s wife, Edna. Kindred Souls is a rare love story & mdash;the tale of a friendship between two extraordinary people, based on trust, exchange of confidences, and profound interest in and respect for each other & rsquo;s work. With perceptiveness, compassion, admiration, and deep affection, the author recalls the final decade and a half of the former First Lady & rsquo;s exceptional life, from her first encounter with the man who would become Mrs. Gurewitsch & rsquo;s husband through the blossoming of a unique bond and platonic love. Blended into her tender reminiscences are excerpts from the enduring correspondence between Dr. Gurewitsch and the First Lady, and a collection of personal photographs of the Gurewitsch and Roosevelt families. The result is a revealing portrait of one of the twentieth century & rsquo;s most beloved icons in the last years of her life & mdash;a woman whom the author warmly praises as & ldquo;one of the few people in this world in which greatness and modesty could coexist. & rdquo "In a letter to David Gurewitsch, Eleanor Roosevelt's personal physician and friend during the last fifteen years of her life, Mrs. Roosevelt wrote, "Above all others, you are the one to whom my heart is tied..." This defines the intense relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt and David Gurewitsch - friends who often traveled and entertained together and eventually, after his marriage to Edna Perkel, bought and shared a town house in Manhattan.". "Their private friendship, a companionship they both treasured, has always intrigued historians, but not much was known about it. David kept diaries and took thousands of photographs, but he never publicly discussed their time together. Now, for the first time, his wife, Edna, has decided to reveal their story and hers after she married into their complicated relationship. Reading David's diaries and the hundreds of letters that he and Mrs. Roosevelt exchanged over the years, and then reflecting on her own life after the death of her husband, enabled Edna finally to write this story. She sheds new light on Mrs. Roosevelt's very private journey of self-discovery as she gained the confidence and knowledge to follow her own personal and political convictions: visiting Khrushchev at his home in Yalta, working on Adlai Stevenson's campaign, being charmed by the young Senator John Kennedy into giving her support for his presidential candidacy, and above all inspiring the love and respect of people all over the world for her compassion, eloquence, and devotion to humanity."--BOOK JACKET.