Hissing Cousins: The Lifelong Rivalry of Eleanor Roosevelt and Alice Roosevelt Longworth

A Richmond Times-Dispatch Best Book of the Year

When Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901, his beautiful and flamboyant daughter was transformed into “Princess Alice,” arguably the century’s first global celebrity. Thirty-two years later, Alice’s first cousin Eleanor moved into the White House as First Lady. The two women had been born eight months and twenty blocks apart in New York City, spent much of their childhoods together, and were far more alike than most historians acknowledge. But their politics and personalities couldn’t have been more distinct.
        Democratic icon Eleanor was committed to social justice and hated the limelight; Republican Alice was an opponent of big government who gained notoriety for her cutting remarks. The cousins liked to play up their rivalry—in the 1930s they even wrote opposing syndicated newspaper columns and embarked on competing nationwide speaking tours. When the family business is politics, winning trumps everything. Lively, intimate, and stylishly written, Hissing Cousins is a double biography of two extraordinary women whose entwined lives give us a sweeping look at the twentieth century in America.

Marc Peyser is a writer and former deputy editor at both Newsweek and Budget Travel. His whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Life, Vogue, Time, Time Out New York, Condé Nast Traveler, and the Huffington Post. He is currently the deputy editor of All You magazine.

Timothy Dwyer was raised on Long Island’s Eaton’s Neck, swimming distance from Theodore Roosevelt’s homestead at Sagamore Hill. He studied history and politics at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. His work has appeared in Time, Washingtonian, and online at The Atlantic. He is the chief executive officer of The School Choice Group, an education advisory company.