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Franklin and Winston
- An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
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Publisher's summary
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this “beautifully written and superbly researched dual biography” (Los Angeles Times Book Review), Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer Jon Meacham “paints a powerful portrait of the enormous friendship between World War II allies [Franklin] Roosevelt and [Winston] Churchill” (Vanity Fair).
“Intense and compelling reading.”—The Washington Post
Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were the greatest leaders of “the Greatest Generation.” In Franklin and Winston, Jon Meacham explores the fascinating relationship between the two men who piloted the free world to victory in World War II.
Born in the nineteenth century and molders of the twentieth and twenty-first, Roosevelt and Churchill had much in common. In their own time both men were underestimated, dismissed as arrogant, and faced skeptics in their own nations—yet both magnificently rose to the central challenges of the twentieth century. Theirs was a kind of love story, with an emotional Churchill courting an elusive Roosevelt. The British prime minister, who rallied his nation in its darkest hour, standing alone against Adolf Hitler, was always somewhat insecure about his place in FDR’s affections—which was the way Roosevelt wanted it. A man of secrets, FDR liked to keep people off balance, including his wife, Eleanor, his White House aides—and Winston Churchill.
Meacham’s sources—including unpublished letters of FDR’ s great secret love, Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, the papers of Pamela Churchill Harriman, and interviews with people who were in FDR and Churchill’s joint company—shed light on the characters of both men as he engagingly chronicles the hours in which they decided the course of the struggle.
Charting the personal drama behind the discussions of strategy and statecraft, Meacham has written the definitive account of the most remarkable friendship of the modern age.
Critic reviews
"Jon Meacham's Franklin and Winston takes its place in the front ranks of all that has been written about these two great men." (Tom Brokaw)
"Jon Meacham brings [the relationship between FDR and Churchill] to vivid life, shedding new insights into its strange and poignant complexity, and why its legacy has helped shape the modern world." (Richard Holbrooke)
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- By Sara on 07-23-15
By: David McCullough
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Three Days in January
- Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission
- By: Bret Baier, Catherine Whitney
- Narrated by: Bret Baier, Danny Campbell
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In this debut history from one of America's most influential political journalists, Bret Baier casts the three days between Dwight Eisenhower's prophetic "farewell address" on the evening of January 17, 1961, and his successor John F. Kennedy's inauguration on the afternoon of January 20 as the final mission of one of modern America's greatest leaders.
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Gently In Manner, Strongly In Deed...
- By Gillian on 01-20-17
By: Bret Baier, and others
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Eleanor and Hick
- The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady
- By: Susan Quinn
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1932 Eleanor Roosevelt entered the claustrophobic, duty-bound existence of the first lady with dread. By that time she had put her deep disappointment in her marriage behind her and developed an independent life - now threatened by the public role she would be forced to play. A lifeline came to her in the form of a feisty campaign reporter for the Associated Press: Lorena Hickok. Over the next 30 years, until Eleanor's death, the two women carried on an extraordinary relationship.
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An Icon who was real.
- By Francine Fields on 08-17-17
By: Susan Quinn
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Ike and Dick
- Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage
- By: Jeffrey Frank
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Richard Nixon was a young Navy officer when he first saw Dwight D. Eisenhower through a storm of tickertape as Manhattan celebrated the end of the war in Europe. Seven years later, Nixon was Eisenhower's running mate on the Republican presidential ticket-the beginning of a political and personal relationship that lasted for nearly twenty years. Despite a gulf that separated them by age and temperament, their association evolved into a collaboration that helped to shape the nation's political ideology.
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He's against NIxon
- By James A. Bretney on 01-20-14
By: Jeffrey Frank
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The Hopkins Touch
- By: David Roll
- Narrated by: Fleet Cooper
- Length: 18 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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The Hopkins Touch offers the first portrait in over two decades of the most powerful man in Roosevelt's administration. David Roll shows how Harry Hopkins, an Iowa-born social worker who had been an integral part of the New Deal's implementation, became the linchpin in FDR's - and America's - relationships with Churchill and Stalin, and spoke with an authority second only to the president's.
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Hopkins - the glue of the tripartite coalition
- By Chrissie on 05-19-13
By: David Roll
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All the Great Prizes
- The Life of John Hay, from Lincoln to Roosevelt
- By: John Taliaferro
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 22 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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If Henry James or Edith Wharton had written a novel describing the accomplished and glamorous life and times of John Hay, it would have been thought implausible - a novelist’s fancy. Nevertheless, John Taliaferro’s brilliant biography captures the extraordinary life of Hay, one of the most amazing figures in American history, and restores him to his rightful place. John Hay was both witness and author of many of the most significant chapters in American history - from the birth of the Republican Party, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War, to the prelude to the First World War.
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Almost a Five Star
- By Lulu on 12-22-14
By: John Taliaferro
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The Conquerors
- Roosevelt, Truman, and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941-1945
- By: Michael Beschloss
- Narrated by: Michael Beschloss
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Abridged
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From Michael Beschloss, one of America's most respected historians, The Conquerors reveals one of the most important stories of World War II. As Allied soldiers fought the Nazis, Franklin Roosevelt and, later, Harry Truman fought in private with Churchill and Stalin over how to ensure that Germany could never threaten the world again.
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Poor narration
- By Gary Bradt on 02-01-03
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The Wise Men
- Six Friends and the World They Made
- By: Evan Thomas, Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Reese
- Length: 33 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Six close friends shaped the role their country would play in the dangerous years following World War II. They were the original best and brightest, whose towering intellects, outsize personalities, and dramatic actions would bring order to the postwar chaos, and whose strong response to Soviet expansionism would leave a legacy that dominates American policy to this day. In April 1945, they converged to advise an untutored new president, Harry Truman.
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Dull with poor narration
- By KD6161 on 03-31-17
By: Evan Thomas, and others
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In the Garden of Beasts
- Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the “New Germany,” she has one affair after another....
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I loved it ... and hated it ... simultaneously
- By History on 11-21-11
By: Erik Larson
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Darkest Hour
- How Churchill Brought England Back from the Brink
- By: Anthony McCarten
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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May 1940. Britain is at war, Winston Churchill has unexpectedly been promoted to prime minister, and the horrors of Blitzkrieg witness one Western European democracy fall after another in rapid succession. Facing this horror, with pen in hand and typist-secretary at the ready, Churchill wonders what words could capture the public mood when the invasion of Britain seems mere hours away. It is this fascinating period that Anthony McCarten captures in this deeply researched and wonderfully written new book, The Darkest Hour.
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Gripping
- By Jean on 12-06-17
By: Anthony McCarten
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Franklin and Winston
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Heads up: Chapters are out of order
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No Ordinary Time
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Songs of America
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From “The Star-Spangled Banner” to “Born in the USA”, Jon Meacham and Tim McGraw take listeners on a moving and insightful journey through eras in American history and the songs and performers that inspired us. Meacham chronicles our history, exploring the stories behind the songs, and Tim McGraw reflects on them as an artist and performer. Their perspectives combine to create a unique view of the role music has played in uniting and shaping a nation.
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Great Book & Storytelling, Wish Songs Were Sung
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Franklin D. Roosevelt
- A Political Life
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In an era of such great national divisiveness, there could be no more timely biography of one of our greatest presidents than one that focuses on his unparalleled political ability as a uniter and consensus maker. Robert Dallek's Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life takes a fresh look at the many compelling questions that have attracted all his biographers: how did a man who came from so privileged a background become the greatest presidential champion of the country's needy?
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Not bad but,
- By Christopher on 12-20-17
By: Robert Dallek
What listeners say about Franklin and Winston
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Ronald Hull
- 01-29-04
Franklin and Winston Review
Remarkable insight to perhaps the two most important figures in the 20th century. "W" is portrayed as the loyal friend for life-- an eternal optimist who delivered Britian from its darkest hour with the help from his sometimes aloof, and not so loyal Roosevelt, whom the author paints as long on charm, but sometimes as more opportunist than friend. The strong bonds that developed in the early years of the war between these men began to diverge during the pre-'44 plans for D-day, with Roosevelt loosening his ties with Churchill, to curry favor from Stalin. Stalin needed a Normandy diversion to ease Nazi pressure on the eastern front while Roosevelt, unable to predict completion of the Manhattan project, needed access to strategic Soviet airfields in Siberia for America's war against Japan. Churchill, on the other hand, mindful of the complexity of a channel naval invasion (and mindful of hard naval lessons past learned), was not quite ready to stomach the sacrifice in men that was sure to occur at D-day, at least not so soon as the proposed May '44 invasion. The fact that "F" and "W" disagreed is understandable, but the listener is left with a sense of regret that our "great" American president could have been more forthright and less political with the man who viewed Roosevelt among his closest friends. Franklin's cozy relations with "Uncle Joe" are made more distasteful by our retrospective view of the tyrant, a view, in fairness, Roosevelt did not have. While the "F" and "W" relationship was complex, and not completely devoid of emotion by Roosevelt, the traits of confidence and ego which made the "leader" Roosevelt, perhaps prevented the type of fraternal relationship we might have wished for them in retrospect. The author is masterful in providing us with the human frailties among the bundle of traits which made these men great. A very good listen indeed!
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29 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jeffrey Litvak
- 05-15-04
Excellent Companion to Churchill Biography
I listened to this book after hearing Roy Jenkins' excellent biography of Churchill (also on Audible) and found it a fine companion. I highly recommend listening to the Churchill biography before tackling this book. I found the narration excellent. Highly recommended.
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10 people found this helpful
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Overall
- M.J.
- 03-28-04
Excellent, but standardized history
Perhaps my disappointment in this work was because of an expectation -- that a scholarly work of this depth, after SO much has been written about these men before, would rightly reveal some new perspective or alternate interpretation of them. As such, I did not finish the book, although I did get as far as America's entry into World War II. No mention was made as to whether either Churchill or Roosevelt knew more about the impending attack on Pearl Harbor, even if only to impeach such theories. I was begging for this book to tell me something outside what conventional historical records shows. The narration for this type of hisrical work was very "audible" and well read.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Nancy
- 03-02-04
Historial Review
This wonderfully indebt book tended to get long, and sometimes I wished for more of the personal stories during the horrors of war. While this important historical relationship forever changed the world, this reader found the book slow and redundant. However, both Franklin and Winston gained respect and gratitude, and I did learn a lot about their lives and their relationship, as well as their wives and families.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Richard
- 05-16-04
Disappointed at lack of insight
I had high hopes for this volume and although I enjoyed it I do not feel I understand the two men any better than before. I did come away with a distaste for Roosevelt, who seemed cruel and purposefully devious, and more respectful for Churchill, who seemed to really make an effort to form a personal bond with a man who was not capable of returning such emotions. The author seemed simply to recite what he found, rather than interpreting the data, and I felt overall the book was rather thin.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Michael Moore
- 01-22-09
Very Worthwhile
As one who has read Churchill's volumes on the Second World War and numerous other books related to the war years, I was skeptical that this book would offer me anything new or particularly interesting. I was wrong. The book offers a fresh understanding of the depth and importance of the personal relationship between Churchill and Roosevelt. It had its ups and downs, but it was an extraordinarily close and affectionate friendship. The relationship was critical to bolstering British morale in the early part of the war and played a key role in the strategic decisions that led to ultimate victory. It was a relationship that set the pattern for the close collaborations on military matters we have seen in subsequent years between the American and British leaders when their interests were aligned (think Reagan-Thatcher; Bush-Thatcher; and Bush-Blair).
Meacham's writing style flows well. His commentary is thoughtful and credible and shows a personal touch. He brings insights to each situation that ably complement the letters, cables, interviews and other first-hand sources that he cites.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- James
- 02-26-04
Franklin and Winston Review
Outstanding analysis of the relationship between two key leaders of the Twentieth Century. For a full appreciation of the background of Churchill's interaction with Roosevelt, 'CHURCHILL" by Roy Jenkins is a must read.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Theresa
- 04-30-04
Gossipy and a bit dull
Overall, I liked the book. It has a lot of interesting anecdotal material, which I greatly enjoyed knowing. But the way the book is arranged is distracting and it jumps around between historical fact and quaint anecdote in a way that makes it seem trite in places. You have to pay attention to really get anything of depth from it. But if you persist, you'll probably like the book. The narrator has a style that sort of reminds you of a political commentator on TV. But he doesn't aggravate and his voice is clear.
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- Mike From Mesa
- 09-04-17
Not much left unplowed in that field
Franklin and Winston covers the relationship between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill prior to and during World War II. This is not a new subject and has been covered so extensively by other books that Churchill, when told by Mr Meacham that he was writing this book, responded with the quote in the headline for this review - There is not much left unplowed in that field - and that is indeed the truth. There is little in this book that has not been covered earlier in other books or even in general histories of the European Theater of World War II.
The book covers Mr Churchill's wooing of President Roosevelt when he, Churchill, realized that winning the war against the Germans would require entry of the US, his constant requests that the US enter the war, his friendship with Roosevelt after the US entry and the progress of that friendship as the war progressed. While most of this material has been covered in other books (as far back as 1975 in Mr Lash's Roosevelt and Churchill, and perhaps more interestingly in William Manchester's three volume biography of Winston Churchill), this book does have the advantage of viewing Franklin Roosevelt in a more dispassionate light than some of the earlier books.
One of the topics covered in this book are the meetings between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin and Mr Meacham does a service to the public by his coverage of the Yalta conference and it is painful to read how Roosevelt, deciding that he could win Stalin's approval by making fun of Churchill, first spurns Churchill before the conference and then proceeds to humiliate him during the conference by joining Stalin in making fun of Churchill while he, Churchill, was standing right there and forced to listen.Here we see Churchill, perhaps the greatest political figure of the 20th century and the single man responsible for the actions that led to the fall of Hitler, being made fun of by his supposed ally and friend, and it is embarrassing for an American to listen to.
As with other information in this book, this is not the first time this material has been covered, but it was the first time I have thought that the writer treated the material in an unbiased way. Considering the honest way that Roosevelt's behavior is described, he (Roosevelt) seems to have lost the aura of 'greatness' in Meacham's view and that has colored the way Roosevelt's actions during the war has usually been presented.
The narration by Grover Gardner is, as always in this type of book, superb and I recommend this book to those who have no in-depth view of this subject. However, for those who have read any of the many other books covering this topic the book is more optional. Interesting, but not much new.
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- Robert A. Raymond
- 03-23-22
Not worth the time.
There are other books about these men that are better listens. This is a very boring listen.
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