War and Peace

FDR's Final Odyssey, D-Day to Yalta, 1943-1945

By: Nigel Hamilton

Narrated by: Shaun Grindell

Length: 21 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

To mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the stirring climax to Nigel Hamilton's three-part saga of FDR at war - proof that he was WWII's key strategist, even on his deathbed. Nigel Hamilton's celebrated trilogy culminates with a story of triumph and tragedy. Just as FDR was proven right by the D-day landings he had championed, so was he found to be mortally ill in the spring of 1944. He was the architect of a victorious peace that he would not live to witness. Using hitherto unpublished documents and interviews, Hamilton rewrites the famous account of World War II strategy given by Winston Churchill in his memoirs. 

Seventy-five years after the D-day landings, we finally get to see, close-up and in dramatic detail, who was responsible for rescuing, and insisting upon, the great American-led invasion of France in June 1944, and why the invasion was led by Eisenhower. As FDR's D-day triumph turns to personal tragedy, we watch with heartbreaking compassion the course of the disease, and how, in the months left him as US commander in chief, the dying president attempted at Hawaii, Quebec, and Yalta to prepare the United Nations for an American-backed postwar world order. Now we know: Even on his deathbed, FDR was the war's great visionary.

©2019 Nigel Hamilton (P)2019 Recorded Books

FDR’s War Years with Positive Spin

This was the last of a three volume trilogy on FDR during his War time Presidency. The author is clearly an advocate for FDR and not an impartial Biographer. The series attempts to gave a human face and highlight the War time achievements of FDR. Historians are supposed to be impartial but of course they rarely are. I have read extensively on the Allied War leaders heads of State. Churchill by far has the most written about him. Churchill is depicted as majestically flawed but great of heart and above all “magnanimous”. Stalin is depicted as a paranoid, manipulative, sociopath. FDR is depicted as having little true character. He manipulates Politics, The American Public, even his friends and family. His public image is an illusion, few know he is paralyzed, he easily subordinates his principles in an effort to maintain popular support, his marriage is purely a platonic pact for political expediency, he has a large family but he rarely interacts its them except when they are in the role of caretaker since his wife is absent and he has few true friends. FDR was at first seen as catering to the isolationist public allowing the World to burn as America did little to help other than reap profits as an arms dealer. He was in charge when American was caught asleep and ill prepared for War. He forged an alliance with Churchill finally but out of expediency. They appeared true friends until Churchill and his Country lost much of their usefulness to a rapidly expanding USA. As the friendship (if there ever truly was one) cooled FDR denigrated Churchill in an effort to win over Stalin. Stalin of course used the arrogant President much as Hitler did Chamberlain in the eyes of some. That’s a quick summary of several books - not necessarily a correct interpretation.
Nigel Hamilton goes a long way to refine this rather harsh view of FDR. He presents Roosevelt much as William Manchester n others present Churchill - flawed but Masterful. It was definitely worth it to read the trilogy to seem him presented in this light and to see some of his more egregious late War missteps in light of his incredibly poor health n not as signs of his arrogance or ignorance. I must warn all the Churchill devotees that the Author is pretty merciless is his depiction of Churchill especially in the third volume. I’m not sure Nigel Hamilton got that part totally correct but he uses primary source material to back up his assertions just like the books on Churchill do. So this trilogy helps level the playing field for me. It’s a good reminder that using the same source material base Historian’s can put someone on a pedestal or knock them off a pedestal.

Impossibly choppy

The narrator is positively awful and after about an hour of listening I gave up and ordered the book on kindle as the subject matter is really interesting. He reads with no sense of sentence structure and emphasizes what shouldn’t be emphasized and vice-versa. It makes it difficult to follow and ugly to listen to. How on earth did he end up getting chosen as the narrator? It’s ghastly!

Great Story - Poor Narration

This last volume is a good close to the trilogy. For me, it really suffered from the narrator. His cadence was awkward and difficult to follow. If you've liked the set so far you'll likely be willing to suffer along with the narration. I listened to some chapters several times to get the narrative.

Great, great book spoiled by awkward narration

This is a spell binding, breathtaking history of one of America’s most important wartime epochs. So much in this book is new and noteworthy. Alas, the compelling narrative is often deeply marred by the tone, emphasis, inflection and even the dialect of its British narrator. Why couldn’t a great, baritone American voice (one with a more natural grasp of American history) have been used? This reader’s style was just completely wrong. It doesn’t ruin the magnificence of the book but it irks all the same.

Final Volume of FDR at War the Most Fascinating

I learned many amazing facts about the end of World War II and for that matter the end of FDR"s life. The author's citing of many personal letters and diaries from the staffs of both FDR and Churchill add credulity to these known and also unknown famous historical events.....

Good but not complete! Not a fan of the reader.

The final volume of Nigel Hamilton’s FDR trilogy is worth listening to. It’s informative and insightful. However, it feels like driving a race car down the street and hitting the breaks a block before the stop sign. By ending on the day of FDR’s death, the reader is left hanging. It would have been more fulfilling to give a postscript talking about the impact FDR’s death had on the many characters featured as well as the wind up of WWII as well as FDT’s vision for the post war new world order.

The narration took some getting used to. It was “sing song” like and detracted from the author’s words. Another narrator was used in one of the other books in the series. His work was far better.

Excellent book

Very interesting and informative book. However, I think the book laid too much emphasis on countering Winston Churchill's claims about the war, while the story speaks for itself. I would also have liked an epilogue that summarized the war's conclusion, rather than end abruptly after FDR died.

Sad that it didn't cover consequences of R's death

I would have given it 5 Stars if it had covered the repercussions of Roosevelt's death (the book ends immediately after Roosevelt dies) . Otherwise it was fabulous.

Abrupt Ending!!

Interesting book, but the ending is incredibly abrupt with no analysis or conclusion. It may be that a future book will carry forth the story, but this ending, spoiler alert! (FDR was dead. The end.) was far too jarring and colored my opinion.

A wonderful informative read

Engaging from the first word! History as it should be ,a page turner. Presents Churchill and Stalin as flesh and blood characters! FDR we need you!

Perfs

Interesting perspective but spoilt by a somewhat petty and narrow viewpoint of Winston Churchill’s leading role and contribution in the stand against Hitler. A bit of a chip on the shoulder methinks.