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Adult Books - Nonfiction - History - U.S. History
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom.
Black, Conrad (author).
Nov. 2003. 1,360p. PublicAffairs, hardcover, $35 (1-58648-184-3). 973.917.
REVIEW.
First published November 1, 2003 (Booklist).
Black is the CEO of newspaper publishing giant Hollinger International, Inc. He has written a massive, comprehensive, but frequently ponderous biography of the great FDR. Unfortunately, Black spends an inordinate amount of time describing Roosevelt’s personal life, often in mind-numbing detail. Does the fact that a young Franklin tried to conceal an accidental gash to his forehead really help to understand the man? Yet this work has great value, particularly when it focuses upon Roosevelt as president and indomitable wartime leader. In Black’s view, Roosevelt, like Churchill, understood that the war was more than a mere struggle between nation states. He believed passionately, and correctly, that it was a struggle to preserve the ideals of liberty and democracy that had been nurtured and developed over centuries. It was that belief that sustained Roosevelt, and it was his skill and courage as a leader that allowed him to bring his people to that realization. Despite its flaws, Black’s chronicle of a man of strength and vision is a worthy tribute to his legacy. — Jay Freeman
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