Franklin Delano Roosevelt

The American Presidents Series: The 32nd President, 1933-1945

By: Roy Jenkins, Arthur M. Schlesinger - editor Jr.

Narrated by: Richard Rohan

A masterly, posthumous work by the New York Times bestselling author of Churchill and Gladstone

A protean figure and a man of massive achievement, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the only man to be elected to the presidency more than twice. In a ranking of chief executives, no more than three of his predecessors could truly be placed in contention with his standing, and of his successors, there are so far none.

In acute, stylish language, Roy Jenkins tackles all of the nuances and intricacies of FDR's character. He was a skilled politician with astounding flexibility; he oversaw an incomparable mobilization of American industrial and military effort; and all the while aroused great loyalty and dazzled those around him with his personal charm. Despite several setbacks and one apparent catastrophe, his life was buoyed by the influence of Eleanor, who was not only a wife but an adviser and one of the twentieth century's greatest political reformers.

Nearly complete before Jenkins's death in January 2003, this volume was finished by historian Richard Neustadt.

©2003 Roy Jenkins; (P)2003 Audio Renaissance, A Division Of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

"Elegantly describing FDR's course through a score of personal and political ordeals, Jenkins astutely shows us the man in all his many incarnations: the confident son of privilege who morphed into a wry, young politico on the rise; the startled victim, for whom all things had previously come so easily, hitting the brick wall of polio and fighting back, strenuously leading his broken country out of its two great 20th-century crises: the Great Depression and World War II. " - Publishers Weekly

very average

Compared to Jenkins' work on Churchill, FDR is very average. It serves as a useful introduction to the man, but clearly misses any insights on his most productive years during his presidency. For someone looking for an substantive account of the "new deal" years, this book clearly lets the reader on his appetite. For someone looking for a quick summary of Rosevelt's life, it is an adequate read/listen.

As my teen-age daughter would qualify: Meh!