FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

A conversational examination of the life of the 32nd president.

Kanefield provides readers with an intimate examination of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, following the president from his birth in Hyde Park, New York, to his death in Warm Springs, Georgia. Along the way, readers discover Roosevelt’s complexities, his personal life, and his policies. These include well-known shining moments, such as his electoral victory in 1932 and the political and gender diversity of his cabinet, as well as darker moments in his life, including his ongoing affair with Lucy Mercer and his lavish lifestyle as a young man. Although Kanefield’s storytelling isn’t always smooth, overall it flows in a friendly and welcoming style that reluctant readers will appreciate. Photographs and supplemental boxes of contextual information interrupt when additional background information is needed. The backmatter is also helpful, and it includes a timeline, bibliography, notes on the chapters, and selections of FDR’s writing for curious readers. Those readers will need to flip back and forth between narrative and endnotes for sourcing information, however, as they are not directly anchored to the text. Those familiar with Kanefield’s other biographical works will not be disappointed.

A solid account for both history buffs and report-writers.