NATIONAL BESTSELLER - "A model presidential biography... Now, at last, we have a biography that is right for the man" - Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World One of today’s premier biographers has written a modern, comprehensive, indeed ultimate book on the epic life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In this superlative volume, Jean Edward Smith combines contemporary scholarship and a broad range of primary source material to provide an engrossing narrative of one of America’s greatest presidents. This is a portrait painted in broad strokes and fine details. We see how Roosevelt’ s restless energy, fierce intellect, personal magnetism, and ability to project effortless grace permitted him to master countless challenges throughout his life. Smith recounts FDR’s battles with polio and physical disability, and how these experiences helped forge the resolve that FDR used to surmount the economic turmoil of the Great Depression and the wartime threat of totalitarianism. Here also is FDR’s private life depicted with unprecedented candor and nuance, with close attention paid to the four women who molded his personality and helped to inform his worldview: His mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, formidable yet ever supportive and tender; his wife, Eleanor, whose counsel and affection were instrumental to FDR’s public and individual achievements; Lucy Mercer, the great romantic love of FDR’s life; and Missy LeHand, FDR’s longtime secretary, companion, and confidante, whose adoration of her boss was practically limitless. Smith also tackles head-on and in-depth the numerous failures and miscues of Roosevelt’ s public career, including his disastrous attempt to reconstruct the Judiciary; the shameful internment of Japanese-Americans; and Roosevelt’s occasionally self-defeating Executive overreach. Additionally, Smith offers a sensitive and balanced assessment of Roosevelt’s response to the Holocaust, noting its breakthroughs and shortcomings. Summing up Roosevelt’s legacy, Jean Smith declares that FDR, more than any other individual, changed the relationship between the American people and their government. It was Roosevelt who revolutionized the art of campaigning and used the burgeoning mass media to garner public support and allay fears. But more important, Smith gives us the clearest picture yet of how this quintessential Knickerbocker aristocrat, a man who never had to depend on a paycheck, became the common man’s president. The result is a powerful account that adds fresh perspectives and draws profound conclusions about a man whose story is widely known but far less well understood. Written for the general reader and scholars alike, FDR is a stunning biography in every way worthy of its subject.
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"Best biography I've ever read, and potentially the best history book I've read. Sweeping in magnitude, FDR doesnt forget the interesting and often humorous details that make history so rich and exciting. Five stars hardly expresses how much I enjoyed reading this book. "
— Jason (5 out of 5 stars)
" Yippee ... I finished 27 + hours of listening ... Parts were great ... parts were too detailed and not interesting. I was looking for another "John Adams" and this was not it. I did learn much about history and that is always a good thing. "
— Beth, 2/20/2014" FDR was even more incredible a leader than I recall. Many parallels with our current national predicament. "
— Jai-shen, 2/13/2014" I guess I'm on an American presidents biography jag. What an excellent book. It gives a great overview of FDR's life and is unabashedly pro-Roosevelt. "
— Susanne, 2/11/2014" A good read, not overly critical bio of the man and president. Many interesting and illuminating facts and insights. "
— Ian, 2/2/2014" The best 1 volume biography of FDR. I would recommend it to anyone looking for an understanding of one of America's best Presidents "
— Tom, 1/31/2014" Found out that I really just knew FDR for the New Deal and WWII, but a lot of other interesting stories in this book. Really enjoyed learning about FDR's early life, his role in NY politics and some of his major mistakes in domestic politics. Long, but well paced. "
— geoff, 1/29/2014" An extremely readable biography about a complex man, and a complex presidency. "
— Dave, 1/28/2014" Extremely detailed but still readable! "
— Linda, 1/26/2014" This was by far the most insightful biography of FDR I have read, and there have been several. The book moved along well, and kept your interest. "
— Fred, 1/15/2014" This is a terrific biography based on extraordinarily broad and deep research, and briskly written. "
— Mike, 1/13/2014" I got this audiobook from the Pasadena Library (26 CDs) because during Obama's inauguration, people were comparing him to FDR. Now I know why Roosevelt is rated by historians as one of our greatest presidents. He was truly a hero. "
— Chris, 9/26/2013Jean Edward Smith is an acclaimed biographer and university professor. Named “Today’s foremost biographer of formidable figures in American history” by George Will, he has written biographies on a number of prominent figures in US history. His work has earned him many awards and accolades; his biography of Ulysses S. Grant was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2002, and his biography on President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Eisenhower in War and Peace, was a New York Times bestseller. Currently, Smith is the John Marshall Professor of Political Science at Marshall University; he also taught previously at the University of Toronto as a professor of political economy for 35 years.
Richard McGonagle is an Earphones Award–winning narrator and an experienced film, television, and voice-over actor. He has appeared in such films as Rules of Engagement and such television shows as The Practice and JAG.