Franklin D. Roosevelt

January 1, 1990
In this masterful biography by the author of the four-volume Franklin D. Roosevelt , the many facets of FDR--son, student, husband, father, state senator, political appointee, polio victim, politician, governor, chief executive, commander-in-chief, world statesman--are revealed in turn, comprising a full accounting of the man and his works. One of the most loved and most hated figures in U.S. history, Roosevelt has been viewed by opponents as shallow, incompetent and dictatorial. While revisionist historians have lately attempted to support that stance, Freidel amasses evidence that renders it untenable. His FDR is a man of vision, sound judgment and decisiveness who rescued the nation's economy from imminent collapse and defended democracy not only in the U.S. but throughout the world. This is as fine a one-volume biography of the 32nd president as we are likely to get. Photos. History Book Club alternate.

December 1, 1989
One volume has been too small a vessel for most FDR biographers. Five multivolume projects are on the shelves, while only three recent works of significance measure Roosevelt's entire life in a single book. The latest is Freidel's, whose Franklin D. Roosevelt (1952-73), even in four volumes, doesn't go past 1933. The graceful narrative of that magnum opus is absent in the author's new work, which is not so much a true biography as a distillation of the mass of Roosevelt scholarship. Freidel's new life concentrates on Roosevelt's presidency, with public events the consistent focus, and the private man left mainly alone. What results is the most authoritative of the one-volume works; but Nathan Miller's FDR ( LJ 1/1/83) will often be the best choice for nonacademic readers, and Ted Morgan's FDR ( LJ 11/1/85) is also available. For all college and many public libraries.-- Robert F. Nardini, N. Chichester, N.H.

Copyright 1989 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.