ROOSEVELT: The Soldier of Freedom

by James MacGregor Burns ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 9, 1970

This is the sequel to Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox (1956), and it retains the basic theme of dualism in FDR between the grand man of principle and the clay man of Realpolitik and practicality. A broad-based political biography that also captures Roosevelt the many-sided man with facility and felicity, Burns' volume rates high on both readability and scholarship, and offers a fair accounting of the strengths and the shortcomings of Roosevelt's war leadership. Burns views the vacillations and hesitations on Roosevelt's part over America's international role as a reflection of the division in the American people themselves. Amidst this ambivalence, he is sensitive to the important transitions occurring in the war years in American society, in the nature of the presidency, and in our relations with the Soviet Union. It is in Roosevelt's third term, rather than in the earlier New Deal years, that Burns finds ""the foundations of modern presidential government,"" the broadening of presidential prerogatives and powers and the proliferation of tire presidential staff. Supplemented with 40 cartoons and 16 pages of illustrations, a rich historical portrait--albeit imposing for the less-than-committed reader.

Pub Date: Sept. 9, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION