A review by skitch41
Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny by Frank Freidel

3.0

FDR is one of those presidents that, love him or hate him, you can't ignore him. So I picked up this history book a while back to become better informed about the man and his accomplishments. Certainly, Mr. Freidel makes a good case for considering FDR as one of the greatest presidents ever. Mr. Freidel chronicles FDR's 12 years in office very well and with very few complicating internal debates that can bog down other histories. FDR's struggles during the Great Depression and World War II are given unbiased consideration here and this is a great starting point for anyone interested in his accomplishments. In case you've noticed, I use the word "history" to describe this book because, while this is a great history, it is not a very good biography. There is practically no analysis of what made FDR tick. His whole life prior to the presidency makes up less than 90 pages of the whole narrative. His whole adolescence and schooling, approximately the first 28 years of his life, are only given one thirteen-page chapter. And up until the last two chapters, Mr. Freidel only glances over FDR's personal life in favor of his political accomplishments. Particularly shocking was when Mr. Freidel devoted only one or two sentences to the fact that the Roosevelts lost a son in infancy and only one or two pages to FDR's affair with Lucy Mercer. Very little is said about Franklin and Eleanor's marriage other than that it was strained afterwards. Very disappointing. So, in short, this is a great place to start if you want to know more about FDR's presidency, especially if you're in an AP U.S. History or a college introductory U.S. history class, but if you're looking for a biography that injects some flesh and blood into the man, you may want to look somewhere else.