FDR, an Intimate History


Book Description

A "truly moving . . ". ("Houston Chronicle") biography of our 32nd president. "Roosevelt is brought to life once again in a clear, concise and well-documented story from beginning to end . . . it is a pleasure".--"Washington Post Book World". "The definitive popular Roosevelt biography"--"Library Journal". *Lightning Print On Demand Title




The Roosevelts


Book Description

New York Times Bestseller A vivid and personal portrait of America’s greatest political family and its enormous impact on our nation, which expands on the hugely acclaimed seven-part PBS documentary series, bringing readers even deeper into these extraordinary leaders’ lives With 796 photographs, some never before seen The authors of the acclaimed and best-selling The Civil War, Jazz, The War, and Baseball present an intimate history of three extraordinary individuals from the same extraordinary family—Theodore, Eleanor, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Geoffrey C. Ward, distilling more than thirty years of thinking and writing about the Roosevelts, and the acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns help us understand for the first time that, despite the fierce partisanship of their eras, the Roosevelts were far more united than divided. All the history the Roosevelts made is here, but this is primarily an intimate account, the story of three people who overcame obstacles that would have undone less forceful personalities. Theodore Roosevelt would push past childhood frailty, outpace depression, survive terrible grief—and transform the office of the presidency. Eleanor Roosevelt, orphaned and alone as a child, would endure her husband’s betrayal, battle her own self-doubts, and remake herself into the most consequential first lady in American history—and the most admired woman on earth. And Franklin Roosevelt, born to privilege and so pampered that most of his youthful contemporaries dismissed him as a charming lightweight, would summon the strength to lead the nation through the two greatest crises since the Civil War, though he could not take a single step unaided. The three were towering personalities, but The Roosevelts shows that they were also flawed human beings who confronted in their personal lives issues familiar to all of us: anger and the need for forgiveness, courage and cowardice, confidence and self-doubt, loyalty to family and the need to be true to oneself. This is the story of the Roosevelts—no other American family ever touched so many lives.




Closest Companion


Book Description

Diary entries and letters from Franklin D. Roosevelt and his private secretary Margaret Suckley offer unique insight into the character of the president and his struggles with disability.




No Ordinary Time


Book Description

Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Pulitzer Prize–winning classic about the relationship between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, and how it shaped the nation while steering it through the Great Depression and the outset of World War II. With an extraordinary collection of details, Goodwin masterfully weaves together a striking number of story lines—Eleanor and Franklin’s marriage and remarkable partnership, Eleanor’s life as First Lady, and FDR’s White House and its impact on America as well as on a world at war. Goodwin effectively melds these details and stories into an unforgettable and intimate portrait of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt and of the time during which a new, modern America was born.




A First Class Temperament


Book Description

In this classic of American biography, based upon thousands of original documents, many never previously published, the prize-winning historian Geoffrey C. Ward tells the dramatic story of Franklin Roosevelt’s unlikely rise from cloistered youth to the brink of the presidency with a richness of detail and vivid sense of time, place, and personality usually found only in fiction. In these pages, FDR comes alive as a fond but absent father and an often unfeeling husband--the story of Eleanor Roosevelt’s struggle to build a life independent of him is chronicled in full–as well as a charming but pampered patrician trying to find his way in the sweaty world of everyday politics and all-too willing willing to abandon allies and jettison principle if he thinks it will help him move up the political ladder. But somehow he also finds within himself the courage and resourcefulness to come back from a paralysis that would have crushed a less resilient man and then go on to meet and master the two gravest crises of his time.




Franklin and Eleanor


Book Description

In this groundbreaking new account of their marriage, Rowley describes the remarkable courage and lack of convention--private and public--that kept Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt together.




F.D.R., My Boss


Book Description

Few people had the opportunity to know Franklin Delano Roosevelt as Grace Tully did. For nearly seventeen years, twelve of which were spent in the White House, she was his private secretary, and she saw him not only in his office but also in his home, during working hours and during moments of relaxation, coping with momentous issues and enjoying the company of his friends and family. It was a rare and rewarding opportunity, for F.D.R. was a fascinating and tremendously important person. First published in 1949, Miss Tully has written a unique account of what it was like to be in daily association with him, so that through the pages of her book you may come to know F.D.R. as she did. Which means that you will know him not only as a historic figure but also as an individual human being, a man with likes and dislikes, with moods and whims, with hopes and anxieties such as all men have—and with courage, determination, an faith that all men do not have. Here are first-hand, behind-the-scenes stories of campaign tours, of tense election nights, of processions and inaugurations and vital meetings. Here are accurate, intimate impressions of the many famous and colorful personalities who were relatives, friends, associates, opponents, advisers—Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Hopkins, Wendell Millkie, Ed Starling, Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman, to name but a few. And here are revealing and entertaining anecdotes about the members of royalty, the prime ministers, the diplomats who made Tully’s office seem indeed a crossroads of the globe. With affection and respect, Miss Tully has drawn a picture of a man of integrity, warmth, vitality, humor, generosity, and courage—and a man, also, of great religious faith. She has not taken it upon herself to make historic judgments, for this is after all a personal narrative. Her book is humble, human, and gracious. It is also vital, distinguished and unforgettable.




Franklin and Lucy


Book Description

“Just when you thought you knew everything about Franklin D. Roosevelt, think again. Joseph E. Persico [is] one of America’s finest historians. . . . You can’t properly understand FDR the man without reading this landmark study.”—Douglas Brinkley, professor of history at Rice University “Persico’s exploration of FDR’s emotional life is fascinating.”—USA Today In Franklin and Lucy, acclaimed author and historian Joseph E. Persico explores FDR’s romance with Lucy Rutherfurd. Persico’s provocative conclusions about their relationship are informed by a revealing range of sources, including never-before-published letters and documents from Lucy Rutherfurd’s estate that attest to the intensity of the affair, which lasted much longer than was previously acknowledged.FDR’s connection with Lucy also creates an opportunity for Persico to take a more penetrating look at the other women in FDR’s life. We come to see more clearly how FDR’s infidelity contributed to Eleanor Roosevelt’s eventual transformation from a repressed Victorian to perhaps the greatest American woman of her century; how FDR’s strong-willed mother helped to strengthen his resolve in overcoming personal and public adversity; and how both paramours and platonic friends completed the world that FDR inhabited. In focusing on Lucy Rutherfurd and the other women who mattered to Roosevelt, Persico renders the most intimate portrait yet of an enigmatic giant of American history. Praise for Franklin and Lucy “Persico is judicious in his treatment of these sensitive matters. . . . He understands that Lucy Mercer helped FDR awaken his capacity for love and compassion, and thus helped him become the man to whom the nation will be eternally in debt.”—The Washington Post Book World “A stylish and well-written book filled with interesting characters, marital dramas and spylike subterfuge.”—Chicago Tribune “A powerful narrative that rarely fails to pull you along to the next chapter.”—Louisville Courier-Journal “Utterly absorbing.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette




The Roosevelt I Knew


Book Description

A vivid and intimate portrait of the New Deal president by the first woman ever appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. When Frances Perkins first met Franklin D. Roosevelt at a dance in 1910, she was a young social worker and he was an attractive young man making a modest debut in state politics. Over the next thirty-five years, she watched his career unfold, becoming both a close family friend and a trusted political associate whose tenure as secretary of labor spanned his entire administration. FDR and his presidential policies continue to be widely discussed in the classroom and in the media, and The Roosevelt I Knew offers a unique window onto the man whose courage and pioneering reforms still resonate in the lives of Americans today.




His Final Battle


Book Description

A New York Times Notable Book One of the Best Books of the Year: Foreign Affairs, Bloomberg In March 1944, as World War II raged and America’s next presidential election loomed, Franklin D. Roosevelt was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Driven by a belief that he had a duty to see the war through to the end, Roosevelt concealed his failing health and sought a fourth term—a term that he knew he might not live to complete. With unparalleled insight and deep compassion, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Joseph Lelyveld delves into Roosevelt’s thoughts, preoccupations, and motives during his last sixteen months, which saw the highly secretive Manhattan Project, the roar of D-Day, the landmark Yalta Conference and FDR’s hopes for a new world order—all as the war, his presidency, and his life raced in tandem to their climax. His Final Battle delivers an extraordinary portrait of this famously inscrutable man, who was full of contradictions but a consummate leader to the very last.