|
This timely biography is one of the best there is. Instructive and entertaining from both a historical and contemporary perspective.
Bought this book for my father and he really enjoyed it- he's a big big history buff, generally the only books he prefers so, his outlook on any book is a very high review.
This book won the Francis Parkman Prize for excellence in historical writing. Another good book to read as a second FDR book after Smith or Brands is Champion of Freedom by Conrad Black. Smith keep the length manageable.
Smith writes so well; the prose flows along and seems to match the story as it moves along. I also liked Traitor to His Class by H.W. This is one of the best biographies ever written, and I highly recommend it.
If you are looking for a good read that is very interesting and well-written, read this book. Smith condenses several paragraphs of information into just one or two lines so you concisely know what you need to know. At times I thought I wished he would have explained more, but I also realized that he summarized it concisely including all the most important information.
Brands. This biography FDR by Jean Edward Smith is one of the best biographies ever written -- winner of the Francis Parkman Prize for excellence in historical writing.
Although this detracted from the overall effect of the story, I would still only characterize it as a minor criticism and it certainly should not affect one's determination to read this otherwise excellent account.For all historians and general readers alike, this brilliant effort by Jean Smith should be relished as one of the definitive accounts of both the presidency and life of FDR. Covering the life of a monolith like Roosevelt can lead one down many a complex path.Smith's story however is straight ahead biography. Well versed and expository, this book is well worth the time commitment (over 600 pages of text) and I recommend it highly. FDR and Winston Churchill formed a close alliance and friendship that was a key element to winning the war and Smith shows how this relationship helped both become better statesmen as well as ultimate leaders in the war mangement.The end of the book is my only criticism of Smith's work.we seem to go from FDR's improbable election for a fourth term in 1944 to his 1945 death in comparatively short order.
The test then of any biographer is to consolidate this into a concise and readable account.here Jean Smith succeeds magnificently with FDR. This typically has led to many volumes of dry, boring history that has filled multiple library shelves. FDR's complex family legacy, his ties and relationship to his uncle Teddy and privileged upbringing encompass a good portion of the first quarter of the book. He makes his mark initially in State government which ultimately leads to an appointment as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under Woodrow Wilson at a time where his political and organizational skills serve the country best as he worked full time in managing the country's response to WWI.
His close advisors Louis Howe and Missy LeHand are rightly portrayed as an important element in FDR's political and personal life by Smith and show how they helped mold his outlook. The difference here is that it is so well written. Smith's extreme storytelling ability separate the important issues from the mundane and the reader gets an uncomplicated understanding of FDR's upbringing. His mother Sara is rightly singled out as his major influence and FDR's actions throughout his life are referenced back to her.Not being an FDR expert, I was enthralled at the many revelatory twists and turns that this man went through to become the stalwart that we all know. Any biography or history of FDR and the era that he served necessarily must include much detail concerning economics, politics and worldview strategy.
He contracts what's believed to be polio in 1927, but the reader learns that it's in fact Guillian-Barre syndrome that he's afflicted with and Smith is excellent at accounting for the onset of the disease and the subsequent actions to cover it up so as to not affect his political career. The New York governorship then follows.all setting the stage for his run for the presidency in 1932.Smith balances FDR's personal side into the narrative and the reader learns all about his initial relationship and marriage to Eleanor and his dalliances with Lucy Mercer.this leading to a surprising Clintonesque partnership with Eleanor that ends up being beneficial for both he and Eleanor as well as the country. Clearly, the highlight of this book and FDR's life is his involvement and management of WWII. Smith provides much evidence and erudition on the government's knowledge and involvement with Japan prior to Pearl Harbor correctly contradicting the detractors that intimated that he and they had prior knowledge of the attack. After college, he spins his wheels for a while as an unmotivated lawyer, than hits his stride as he discovers his true calling in politics. A smooth flowing narrative that not only covers the history but also the inner man, this book is truly deserving of the Parkman prize for historical biography. Smith accelerates FDR's declining health and death in a fashion that (hopefully incorrectly) suggests meeting a publishing deadline.I felt that this portion of the book deserved a much more in depth analysis.
His education was the finest money could provide (Groton and Harvard), but the young FDR seemed to understand that education, although important, wasn't the end all to meeting his life goals. Here the FDR personality comes to the forefront and he accelerates to the heights of the New York political scene. Certainly he should have expanded on the almost criminal cover up of FDR's condition from the American public and the subsequent outrage that it engendered years later.
As a political science major, I wanted to read more about the late, great FDR. This book is easy to read, highly informative and of course, very interesting. If you're interested in American political history and one of the most influential presidents of all time, I cannot recommended this book enough. The author does a great job in captivating the reader and taking you into the world of FDR.
|
