First published 1996
James MacGregor Burns examines Franklin Roosevelt during the years America fought World War II. Burns follows Roosevelt from the isolationist climate before Pearl Harbor through the full mobilization of American power across multiple theaters of combat. The book tracks how Roosevelt managed the competing demands of domestic politics and global strategy at the same time, building and maintaining alliances with Churchill and Stalin while keeping the American public behind the war effort. Burns does not look away from the hard choices: the deliberate bombing of civilian populations, the administration's failure to act on knowledge of the Holocaust, and the difficult negotiations over what the postwar world would look like. Running through all of it is Roosevelt's deteriorating health, which Burns treats as directly relevant to the decisions being made. The book closes on Roosevelt working to bring the United Nations into existence before he died in April 1945. Burns gives readers a portrait of a president who permanently changed America's position in the world while conducting the largest war in human history.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, world-war-ii, military-history, american-history
Vibes: analytical, dramatic, historically-grounded, introspective, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-narrative, moral-complexity, political-intrigue
Setting: United States, Europe, Pacific Theater
Period: 20th-century, World War II, 1941-1945
640 pages · Hardcover · Smithmark Pub
Content warnings: death, war