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The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt · 1961

Eleanor Roosevelt's 1961 memoir combining her three earlier autobiographies into one account of her life.

This is Eleanor Roosevelt's own final memoir, her personal account of her entire life.

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Front cover of a red book with a cream band reading 'The Autobiography of ELEANOR ROOSEVELT' in gold and dark lettering, with a short blurb in dark text at the bottom about material selected from three volumes of memoirs.
Cover of the first American edition of The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt, 1961.

About this source

What it is

This is a 1961 memoir by Eleanor Roosevelt, published by Harper & Brothers. It combines her three earlier memoirs, This Is My Story, This I Remember, and On My Own, with a new preface and final chapter covering her life up to 1961.

Why it matters

The book traces Roosevelt's life from a difficult childhood through her work as First Lady, her championing of civil rights, and her later role chairing the UN Commission on Human Rights. Reviewers praised it as unusually revealing for an autobiography, showing the development of her confidence and public identity over decades, in her own words rather than a biographer's.

Look closer

  • Why might someone combine several earlier memoirs into one book rather than writing something new?
  • What might be left out or softened in a memoir written by the person it is about?
  • Reviewers noted the book focuses on public activities more than private life — why might she have chosen to write it that way?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Eleanor Roosevelt on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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