Blanche Wiesen Cook (born April 20, 1941 in New York City), professor of history at John Jay College, is the author of Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume One 1884-1933, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize winning biography of Eleanor Roosevelt. Cook's biography is controversial because of her claims that Roosevelt had a lesbian affair with reporter Lorena Hickok [1]. An out lesbian, Cook is also the author of Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume 2 , The Defining Years, 1933-1938, and The Declassified Eisenhower: A Divided Legacy of Peace and Political Warfare.