The Confidante The Untold Story of the Woman Who Helped Win WWII and Shape Modern America

For readers of A Woman of No Importance and Eleanor: A Life, the first-ever biography of Anna Marie Rosenberg, the Hungarian Jewish immigrant who became FDR’s closest advisor during World War II and whose influence on American history, from the New Deal to the Cold War and beyond, has never before been told.

A Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist

As Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s special envoy to Europe in World War II she went where the president couldn’t go. She was among the first Allied women to enter a liberated concentration camp, and stood in the Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s mountain retreat, days after its capture. Though Anna Rosenberg emerged from modest immigrant beginnings with only a high school education, she was the real power behind national policies critical to America winning the war and prospering afterward. Astonishingly, her story remains largely forgotten.

Rosenberg advanced from a career in public relations in 1920s Manhattan to become FDR’s unofficial adviser, and soon wielded enormous influence—no less potent for being subtle. Roosevelt dubbed her “my Mrs. Fix-It.” Her extraordinary career continued after his death as she fought tirelessly for causes from racial integration to women’s equality to national health care.

The Confidante explores who gets to be at the forefront of history, and why. Rosenberg’s position as “the power behind,” combined with her status as an immigrant and a Jewish woman, served to diminish her importance. In this inspiring, impeccably researched, and revelatory book, Christopher C. Gorham at last affords Anna Rosenberg the recognition she so richly deserves.

Christopher C. Gorham is a lawyer, educator, and acclaimed author of The Confidante, which was a Goodreads Choice Award finalist. With degrees in history from Tufts University and the University of Michigan, he served on the editorial staff of the Syracuse Law Review while earning his J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post and in online journals. He lives with his wife in Watertown and Chatham, Massachusetts, and can be found online at ChristopherCGorham.com.