Five weeks, twenty-five thousand miles, and an arduous secret journey of a brave First Lady.
August 1943. As World War II consumes much of the globe, Americans at home have no idea the extent of the horror their servicemen face. What they also don’t know is that Eleanor Roosevelt has boarded a military transport plane, heading to the Pacific theater on a mission to discover and report first hand accounts of the war. Anticipating familiar backlash from those who would prefer a prim and proper First Lady, as well as to help ensure her safety, Eleanor and the rest of the White House keep the journey a closely guarded secret—that is, until news breaks ten days later that she had left the country on a risky expedition.
The First Lady of World War II follows Eleanor on this rigorous and daring trek to Hawaii, New Zealand, and Australia, through the South Pacific and into territory still under enemy air attack. Presenting a lesser-known part of Eleanor’s time as First Lady, author Shannon McKenna Schmidt reveals the adventures, secrets, and dangers of one fascinating woman’s determination to not hide from the pain of war, but to reveal the truth of it to herself and to the American people.
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Shannon McKenna Schmidt, a freelance writer with a passion for reading and travel, spent ten years working in marketing for various book publishers. Her work has appeared in National Geographic Traveler, Arrive, Continental, France Today, the New York Daily News, the Miami Herald, and other magazines, newspapers, and websites, and she is a regular contributor to the book industry news publication Shelf Awareness. She is coauthor, with Joni Rendon, of Novel Destinations.
Suzanne Toren, award-winning narrator, has over thirty years of experience in narration. She was named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile magazine in 2019. She has won the American Foundation for the Blind’s Scourby Award for Narrator of the Year, AudioFile magazine named her the 2009 Best Voice in Nonfiction & Culture, and she is the recipient of multiple Earphones Awards. She performs on and off Broadway and in regional theaters and has appeared on Law & Order and in various soap operas.