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Aug 28, 2008

Krenzel rated it:

"FDR," by Jean Edward Smith (also author of the highly acclaimed biography "Grant"), adds to the long list of biographies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, one of our greatest presidents. At the outset, Smith makes clear his admiration for FDR – the book is dedicated to his parents, "proud Mississippians devoted to Franklin Roosevelt," and the epigraph states, "He lifted himself from his wheelchair to lift this nation from its knees." In the preface to his b More...

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Jan 18, 2009

Susan rated it:

Excellent biography for the general reader. There have been many books on Roosevelt recently, several about his relationship with Churchill specifically, but not a complete biography. Smith sees Roosevelt as, with Washington and Lincoln, in the top echelon of influential American presidents and her book is intended to show why. But she is also sensitive to his faults and doesn’t hesitate to condemn a number of his actions and attitudes, not the least of which was his attempt to "pack" More...

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Mar 15, 2011

Jason rated it:

This book is a delicious meal made up of turn of the century politics and a side order of regret on how modern political discourse (and positions) have reverted. The beginning of the book which covers FDR's childhood and early political career, goes into Wilson's administration which offers an insight to a political party that no longer exists. That being one made up of religious conservatives with socially conscious progressive ideals in foreign relations, taxation, and the role to be played by More...

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Aug 18, 2008

Bap rated it:

I can't believe that I have never read a biography of FDR and I was amazed at how much I learned. FDR was a contradiction. A patrician born to old money, established wealth. To get some idea, shortly after he was marriedm, his mother Sara gave the newly weds a beach front cottage at Campabello Island, a cottage with 34 rooms. he was an unlikely candidate to step in to save this country from revolution. The depression was so unlike anything my generation has experienced. Not only malnutriti More...

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Dec 26, 2011

Sara rated it:

I am glad I made the time for this nearly 33-hour, 26-disc audiobook, but listeners who don't have a round trip commute of 150 miles may not feel the same way.

First of all, I now know much more about Franklin Delano Roosevelt than I did when I chose it. However, FDR-related events and people received strangely lopsided and minimal treatment. The author, Jean Edward Smith, went into unnecessarily great detail about how WWI began, but the level of detail on events for which FDR was p More...

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Apr 20, 2010

Joyce rated it:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a political genius and arguably the best President of the United States in the 20th century. [return][return]FDR came from a family that could trace its beginnings in the New World back to the early Dutch settlers of New York, making him a member of the "Knickerbocker aristocracy". However, an upbringing surrounded by wealth and privilege did not prevent him, through a combination of circumstances, personal adversity and a compassionate nature, from ident More...

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Feb 09, 2009

Martin rated it:

The period of the great depression and the second world war marks the beginning years of my existence. As a child in this period I only had a vague understanding of what was happening, thus inducing a strong interest in the history of these events. Early on I read the fictional description of the era in the "Lanny Budd" series of Upton Sinclair. Smiths excellent biography has supplied me with both an entertaining and extensive description of what happened from the viewpoint of FDR. The More...

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Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it

The legacy of FDR is safe in the hands of Jean Edward Smith, a renowned academic and author of a dozen books, including the acclaimed biographies Grant (a 2002 Pulitzer Prize finalist), John Marshall: Defender of a Nation (1996), and Lucius D. Clay: An American Life (1990). FDR, which captures the energy, courage, and contradictions of a full life well lived, is considered by many here as the best one-volume biography of that president to date. Several critics comment that in making exhaustive u

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Nov 25, 2011

Jeremy rated it:

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the most important person of the twentieth century, he helped the United States shake off bonds of the nineteenth century and prepared the nation to accept it's new role as a global superpower. When he came to power of March 4, 1933 after the stunning November 1932 election, the nation was at its weakest point since the dark days of the Civil War. The nation had been crippled by the devastation of the 1929 crash, and a man, who was himself disabled, was going to show th More...

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Sep 01, 2011

Lisa rated it:

This is the only biography of FDR I have read (there apparently are very many), and I highly recommend it. WOW. I knew very little about FDR before reading this. I was very surprised to learn of his patrician background (the Delano and Roosevelt families were both very wealthy, old money families) and that Eleanor Roosevelt was his cousin. I felt this was a balanced portrait of the man who became president in 1932, continuing to service in office until his death in 1945. FDR certainly had an ind More...

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Jun 22, 2009

Rich rated it:

FDR is a titanic figure that some reviewers of this book believe should have been more thoroughly dissected and ripped apart. Others just seek to tarnish and degrade this godlike icon for his human faults, while overlooking his immense contributions to our nation and Western civilization.

We're all aware of Lucy Mercer and that burning question that many raise...how could a rich dandy be the man of the common people? As such, they assume that FDR was a poser or cheap politician. Well, More...

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Jul 23, 2011

Jordan rated it:

I have had the pleasure of reading two single volume biographies of FDR back to back, so my views on one was affected by how I contrast it with the other. Any student of political history would be well served by reading either of these books. They are FDR by Jean Edward Smith and Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by H.W. Brands. They are both of a similar length but the emphasis of the two books felt different, probably more different f More...

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Sep 08, 2009

Richard rated it:

Jean Edward Smith acknowledges that there is no lack of biographies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt or histories of the time period in which he lived, but he wanted to bring something new to current readers who have not realized the importance of this president who led the nation in times of the worst economic catastrophe and most momentous war in history. Smith attributes this hazy memory of FDR not only to the passage of time since the Roosevelt era, but to the efforts of conservative leaders f More...

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Dec 01, 2008

Amy rated it:

This was a really interesting look at Franklin Delano Roosevelt. We all assume we know this president, but this book makes clear that there were essentially three Roosevelt presidencies: the Depression president, the Court-packing screw up, and the war president. He was a person who grew tremendously from his days in the state assembly of New York, started testing his Depression fighting ideas as New York governor, and then served as our only four-term president. In a time when we just elected o More...

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Feb 23, 2009

Jeff rated it:

A well-balanced and informative biography of FDR, this book focused both on his triumphs and failures. I learned a lot I didn't know - about his political aspirations to be president early in life, about the 15 pieces of legislation passed in his first 100 days to bring the country out of the Great Depression, about the 'Roosevelt' recession caused by him cutting federal spending after the country rebounded from the first recession, about his reluctance and preparedness for getting into WWII an More...

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Jan 22, 2012

Gary rated it:

Walking through FDR'S estate in Hyde Park, New York, I was intrigued by the exhibits that I saw there, particularly a display of letters written by desperate Americans petitioning the White House for support in light of extreme hardship. These letters were posted in a room dedicated to explaining the origins of the social security program. I needed to know more. I went in search of a well-rated FDR biography and this is the one I chose.

Jean Edward Smith's biography covers every perio More...

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May 18, 2011

Tori rated it:

Many people might think that a biography is a biography; they all contain facts about someone’s life. They might think that the only thing important is the quantity and credibility of the facts contained in the biography. To a point, yes, the facts that back up a biography are important. But there are several other factors that can make even a well researched book a not so good one; writing style, the author’s bias (while it is pretty much inevitable for a biography to have a bias, there is a po More...

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Jun 20, 2010

Mike rated it:

Overall, this was an excellent read. Smith ably rises to the challenge of producing a comprehensive biography that also manages to be (relatively) brief. At close to 900 pages including the very interesting end notes, it’s as brief as a single-volume biography can be about a person with such a long and storied career. Smith lays plenty of groundwork for the emergence of FDR the president, detailing his crucial relationship with his mother, with his famous cousin Theodore Roosevelt, and his ye More...

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Mar 10, 2011

Steve rated it:

This was my second book by the author, the first being John Marshall: Definer of a Nation, which I enjoyed a great deal. I think FDR received a fair and balanced appraisal. His mistakes in both his personal and political lives are not overlooked. And at the same time we see that he was the right man, at the right place at the right time. The parallels between the Hoover-Roosevelt and Bush-Obama transitions are interesting, although Roosevelt clearly had more serious problems to deal with and More...

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Jun 06, 2008

Paul rated it:

This is a very abbreviated bio (I was sure I had an abridged copy and looked more than once on the dust jacket for some indication). From the beginning of FDR’s 3rd term until his death spans roughly 100 pages. His death is discussed in the closing paragraphs. After reading the last sentence, I just scratched my head and thought, “well, I guess that’s that.” In dealing with the War, I can appreciate Smith placing a greater emphasis on Roosevelt, rather than bogging the reader down with yet anoth More...

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Mar 24, 2011

Nick rated it:

In this account, Roosevelt rose to the occasion in the two most important periods of his presidency. First, immediately after taking office, Roosevelt’s administration acted with incredible speed in drafting legislation and making decisions which stopped the slide into disorder. Second, prior to U.S. participation in the war, Roosevelt stretched his authority to provide aid to the allies and secure Atlantic shipping while steadily steering public opinion behind him. He acted with discretion and More...

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Mar 22, 2008

Brian rated it:

I've read several books on Eleanor Roosevelt and one book about both Franklin and Eleanor (No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin - a phenomenal book, by the way), but I had never read a book about Franklin Roosevelt. FDR was certainly one of the greatest, if not the greatest, American president (even though some of my diseased relatives would probably roll over in their graves at my statement of this!).

I enjoyed the author Smith's perspective on FDR's role as Commander-in-Chief More...

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Mar 13, 2008

Jack rated it:

This was a remarkably readable account of the 20th century’s greatest president. Lord knows FDR wasn’t perfect, and Smith doesn’t shy away from discussing those points, which include FDR’s court packing plan, the effort to squeeze out conservatives in elections, backing away from government assistance in the midst of recovery, and most importantly signing off on Japanese internment after the Pearl Harbor attacks. Stunning mistakes indeed. But FDR’s successes were far grander. It’s easy to r More...

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Apr 19, 2008

Bill rated it:

Excellent read as far as it goes. However, I think that the author for various reasons felt compelled (or was compelled) to keep this to 1 volume. Given the scope and impact of the subject's life, it's impossible to do that while still giving a thorough accounting of FDR's life and times.

This was especially apparent to me in the final chapters. For example, the entire period from D-Day to FDR's death takes only 70 pages; FDR's relationship with Stalin only warrants a few sentenc More...

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Aug 29, 2010

Kevin rated it:

This is a very good but not particularly analytical biography--it covers all of the terrain, but engages in very little reflection (and no assessment) of FDR's political career and his impact and legacy. I'm not sure how honest Smith's assessment of the internment of the Japanese is, but it's pretty cursory. Same for his record on civil rights and the Holocaust (though a little better on the latter), and I think it's reasonably fair to expect the modern biographer to cover that terrain more so More...

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Sep 18, 2011

Billcorcoran rated it:

This is a great one volume biography on FDR. I was never bored. If you like history or politics I would recommend this book.

FDR was President during one of the most difficult time periods in American History. He had to deal with the near total American economic collapse of the Great Depression as well and WWII the most devastating war in human history. Let's just say this makes compelling reading.

Most experts agree he was one of our greatest Presidents. He had all th More...

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Dec 09, 2008

Beth rated it:

This is a long book, over 700 pages, but very well written. The story moved mostly chronologically but did move slightly out of order when necessary.
I thought it did a very good job of really giving me a feeling for FDR's personality, not just his actions or life timetable. I felt a sense of his confidence, a sense of his comfort with his place in the world.
I had obviously heard all kinds of things about him during the Great Depression and his years as president but I did not kno More...

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Dec 17, 2009

Gregg rated it:

On first glance, this book seemed pretty quick-paced. Four or five pages after Roosevelt's inauguration, and Edwards is already on the Good Neighbor Policy. Maybe I'm spoiled from Ambrose's day-by-day account of Watergate, I'm thinking, but hell, couldn't you spare just a little more room for a four-term presidency?

Then I realize the copy I had was abridged. Hell.

Still, the book was worthwhile for two reasons: to bone up on what I should have remembered from high school More...

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Jan 07, 2011

Lynda rated it:

This book was wonderful. I learned so much about Franklin Roosevelt, and it was written in an engaging, interesting way. There were a quite a few times when I wished Smith hadn't moved on to the next topic so quickly; I wanted more detail about FDR's relationship with Churchill and Stalin, his relationship with Einstein, his choices for vice presidents, the way the country mourned after his death...I could have read another 800 pages.

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Oct 10, 2008

Dan rated it:

Usually when you get a "warts and all" political bio, the warts are revealed in the politician's personal life while the politics are either praised or damned, depending on the author's biases. This biography is much more nuanced, sympathetic but critical of FDR in both public and private personae. It reveals how FDR's illness transformed him (or gave him the opportunity to transform himself) from a selfish prima donna into someone who could empathize with anyone's problems or obstac More...

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