I've met Mr. Cummings, in Washington DC I have invite him to to the Gathering of Nation Pow Wow in Abuqueque NM during April 2002, I grow up during the post vietnam era, and alot of my Navajo mentor were in Nam, they have a hard time talk about it. I am proud of Mr. Cummings for telling his story. Like you wrote in my book, May the creator bless you. With alot respect and honor from the southwest. Thank you for sharing your story. Contact; cgeorge076@aol.com

I also met Mr. Cummings at the Vietnam Vet Wall and purchased his book like many of the other readers listed here. I respect the author for having the courage to sit down and write his experiences, especially after the reception the American people gave these men when they came home from the war. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to read an actual account of the experience of Vietnam. Welcome Home.

I have read several books on Vietnam and some of those have been of personal accounts but, this one is a very moving and interesting read. I recently met the author in Washington DC while visiting the Vietnam Memorial Wall and purchased a signed copy of this book. In signing it he thanked me for my serving my country; it should be me thanking him for serving. After reading this book I feel honored to have met this Marine and fellow Native American.

Brand is an important and valuable asset for every company, thus creating a unique image for your brand and differentiating from your competitors are important issues in brand management. This book illustrated with examples the criteria, requirements and tools to build a brand successfully.
This book is easy to read and with suitable examples to help you understand more about the concepts. I found the most useful part is the ¡§brand slam tools¡¨ in which tools and guidelines are introduced for building a brand successfully.
If you want to start to launch a brand, read this book before doing so, I believe that this book helps you a lot.

This is a book that is very thought provoking but, like all good business books, simple in its message. It all comes down to a great idea, a brand slam. The author talks about marketing by committees, strategic plans and how they are frequently at the heart of brand development. The plan comes first and everything follows from there. He argues that this is totally the wrong approach and his reasoning certainly makes sense. What must come first is THE BIG IDEA. This could be a product idea, an advertising idea, a slogan idea and so on. This forms the core to be able to move forward. If a strategic plan is needed then it follows from the idea.

Brand Slam is divided into section that show how a brand slam can happen in different areas. For example, the slogans section show how the use of different words can contribute towards a brand slam slogan. The advertising section considers how brand slam ads are memorable and, ultimately, more effective than poor advertising. The sections are illustrated with a wealth of examples, some of which have their own dedicated section that goes into detail about how a brand slam business was built. One criticism is that the examples are primarily US brands or international brands in the US and the slogans and advertising may be unknown to an audience outside. However, this does not hide the lessons that are being communicated. The examples still work though.

Brand slam is inspirational and encourages the reader to think of other relevant examples and why they work. Each section concludes with a set of lessons to be learned. These can be applied to your own company or brand and help you towards your own brand slam.

"You're in for a stimulating read!"

Geoffrey Ward shares the ability of David McCullough, and that is to take a scholarly topic and write about it intelligently and coherently. He also makes the journey fun for the reader and he showcases this ability in this excellent book. FDR as a youth was a very different man from the President he was to become. Polio was the defining moment that both changed FDR and deepended his compassion and understanding for the downtrodden.

In this first volume of Ward's Roosevelt trilogy, he illuminates FDR's dominating mother and the problems she caused between Franklin and Eleanor. One almost cringes when the obtrusive Sarah Roosevelt plans her son's honeymoon, buys homes for him (with connecting doors for her to intrude upon)and basically usurps FDR's own decision-making processes.

Franklin Roosevelt was not a great man, or a particularly engrossing man when young. He achieved greatness only after tragedy befell him, but Ward sets the stage here for Roosevelt's later greatness. If you're interested in Roosevelt or the flighty, banal rich New York set of the turn of the century, then this is your cup of tea. It is also a fine book.

"Mornings on Horseback" is a good companion to "Before the Trumpet," but only because it gives you a bigger sense of New York high society in the late 1800's. FDR's father and TR's father were contemporaries and even mistaken for each other. It feels like Mr. Ward writes from a greater emotional distance about FDR than Mr. McCullough does about TR, which seems right to me. The beginning which is about FDR's grandparents is a bit detailed, but it does set the stage. Mr. Ward discusses FDR's father's schoolmaster, for example, which fills out the picture when you read about FDR's own school days. The real jaw dropper concerns FDR's maternal grandfather Warren Delano, who knew the stamp collecting went that deep? But more the wonder is Franklin himself. This portrait is "Before the Trumpet," worts and all, he marries his cousin for chrissakes, he can't/won't get away from his mother, and yet the trumpet does sound for Franklin, he pursues it, and he is there waiting, with and because of Sara and Eleanore. It's amazing to consider their development.

Most of this book is about FDR's family and it is fascinating. It reminded me some of David McCullough's Mornings on Horseback, although FDR had a very different youth from TR's. I had forgotten how rich FDR's family was, and the opulence with which they lived. And what dramatic lives they had--the Delanos and their time in China make a fantastic story. And when you read this great book you will want to read the sequel, A Fist Class Temperament

but this book is the best of a small but special niche. Hugh Gallagher did a fine job & it is obvious from this book & television interviews he has given, that this is a subject he cares deeply about.
There was a conspiracy of silence among reporters & those close to FDR not to acknowledge his paralysis. This silence extended beyond his life to many books & even for a while, the memorial to him. He referred to his affliction maybe once in public late in his life.
The time he spent before & during his presidency rehabing in Warm Springs impacted on him in important ways. A strong bond developed between him, the people of Warm Springs & his fellow patients. That perhaps is the silver lining to his polio: the contact he had with ordinary folks he would never have meet, never would have had anything in common with except his disease.
I think Mr. Gallagher might agree that being stricken with polio was the defining event of FDR's life. Before he was a political lightweight. He was a handsome, charming politician who thought he might like to be president someday. After, he became wiser, more sober yet still charming, less arrogant, more compassionate & a traitor to his upper class breeding. He became stronger, much stronger as a man. The strength he gained from this ordeal contributed greatly to his becoming president & eventually leader of the free world. An important work to read to get the whole Roosevelt.

Countless biographies have been written about the nation's 32nd President, but few devote more than a chapter or passing reference to FDR's battle with Polio. Mr. Gallagher's book is a rare and important one in illustrating what his day-to-day struggle was like. He details FDR's carefully-orchestrated public appearances which, for the country, maintained the illusion that their President could actually walk.

While I found the book to be inspirational, perhaps the most fascinating realization was the respect of the media in maintaining this illusion. For instance, we learn that of the thousands of photos taken of Roosevelt, only a couple exist that show him in his wheelchair. In an age where every aspect of a President's health and private life are scrutinized, this book allows us to ask the uneasy question of whether one of our greatest Presidents could ever have been elected today. You don't have to be a history buff to appreciate the value of this book; I highly recommend it.

I am pleased to see this book back in print. Mr. Gallagher's book is excellent, and a great read for history buffs and those who lived through the Polio epidemics, or want to see what it was like. I had Polio in 1953, and didn't realize FDR had Polio until much later. I never knew until I read this book that FDR wore braces on both legs (my brace was right leg only), and that FDR never walked unassisted (as I was able to do). We both had great upper arm strength, better for a guy than a girl! FDR deceived not only me, but everyone. And, it is good to know the whole story as presented by Mr. Gallagher in his great book. I am pleased to add it to my library.

Why did black Americans switch from the Republican to the Democratic party in the 1930s? In this book, Weiss argues that it was primarily due to economic, rather than racial incentives. While Weiss' arguement isn't very complex (nor does it need to be), her book provides readable insight into the black experience with FDR's New Deal.

After reading this historical account of the Afican American experience during the 1930's I was taken with its excellent accuracy in these events. We are taught to respect the doctrines brought forth by our political leaders, but this was hardly the case under FDR's New Deal. This book depicts the New Deal as a fully political venture, rather than an honest attempt to help the destitute of our country. Never before has history been shown to me in this way, I respected the author and their findings. Also the book is clear, easy to read and altogether enjoyable. I would recommend it highly!

I highly recommend this definitive work on architects Delano & Aldrich. The book is amazingly well-researched and well-written as well as beautifully illustrated with both historic and contemporary photographs. It's a must for the library of anyone interested in architecture!

I have been interested in the work of Delano and Aldrich for a number of years, and this book provides the best information I have been able to get so far.

The descriptions are deep and serious. I also liked the great pictures. The impact of their work is historic to say the least.

This is a must read.

What a fabulous insight into the Architecture firm of Delano & Adrich. This book with its beautiful photographs and engaging essay provide an invaluable tool for all architectural enthusiasts: from the average architecture buff to those involved in scholarly research.

I'm most impressed that the authors not only sought to perform research on the buildings themselves, but moreover, examined the partners and the social influences of the times. I feel we gain so much from the writers thru their experience of having read Delano's letters in archive at Yale!

This book should stand as a model for future chronologist of architectural history. It is truly a wonderful presentation - the best that I've seen published to date.

Congratulations.

In "Forged In War," Warren Kimball seeks to shed light on the relationship between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill that was, well, forged in World War II. For those who are interested in what happens away from the battlefield, this book provides an intriguing behind-the-scenes look at cooperation between two Great Powers. After a brief discussion of the two major players and their characters, the book plunges into the meat of its subject, namely the political and military cooperation between America and Great Britain during and after the war. Essentially, the narrative is divided into three (somewhat overlapping) parts. The first segment covers the events leading up to the war and FDR's decision to enter it; the second, the struggles to defeat Germany and Japan; the third, the diplomatic maneuvering over postwar arrangements once the defeat of Germany had been assured. It's the third part that's most prominent, and also most interesting, as Kimball delves into a discussion of how the prosecution of the war effected, and was effected by, competing visions of the postwar world. The upheavals caused by wars tend to have a dramatic impact on the way the world looks after they're over, and "Forged In War" is a comprehensive examination of how Roosevelt and Churchill (and Stalin for that matter) attempted to exert their control over these upheavals. Although Kimball obviously has a certain level of admiration for Churchill and Roosevelt, he makes it clear that for both men practicality overrode principal; as Roosevelt said, he was not a Wilsonian idealist, and the same held true for Churchill. At the same time that the two Western leaders were finishing off Germany militarily, they were also positioning themselves to prevent Soviet domination of Europe at war's end. A central focus of the book is the massive series of formal and informal discussions that eventually culminated in the acceptance of Stalin's axiom: whoever liberated a conquered country got to impose on it their own political system. In this sense, probably the most impressive aspect of the book is the extent to which Kimball captures the intermingling of political and military considerations that can occur during wartime. Kimball has a straightforward and sometimes entertaining writing style that prevents his narrative from getting too bogged down in detail, so most should find reading this book pretty easy. For history buffs, "Forged In War" gets a high recommendation.

Forged in War is a well researched although often quirky history of Churchill and Roosevelt during World War II. As diplomatic history, this book is a good review of the key events during the war years, including the many conferences and meetings between Churchill, Roosevelt, and sometimes Stalin. Kimball reminds the reader that during the war Britain and the United States were allies with the Soviet Union. He correctly discourages the reader from using the Cold War as a prism for viewing the decisions of high strategy made during the war, while at the same time he reviews those key wartime decisions that were so important in shaping the postwar world.

Kimball uses various unnamed sources throughout his otherwise meticulously researched book. For example on page 10 at the end of a paragraph about how postwar leaders "exploited the Churchill legend" Kimball states: "Even one of those convicted in the Watergate affair during the Nixon years adopted as his public motto a Churchill admonition not to give way "in things great or small, large or petty." On the next page he refers to: "One student of international affairs, who by 1990 had become a regular contributor to the op-ed page of the New York Times . . . ." Such references to unnamed sources leaves the reader wondering why Kimball uses such sources at all, if he can't or won't name his source.

Kimball is a talented writer although he too often inserts comments that remind the reader when he is writing-in the 1990s-and by doing so he cheapens his narrative. One example is in reference to the Yalta Conference and its influence on postwar popular culture. "Fifty years after the Big Three met in the Crimea, a supermodel, appearing in a motion picture depicting her vacuous, if remunerative, occupation, specified the place of the conference in historical memory. Searching for a stark contrast between what she did and what was truly important, she quipped: 'I mean, the worst thing that can happen to me is I break a heel and fall down. This is not Yalta, right?'" (pp. 310-311) He then refers to this broken heel later in his text. The name of the supermodel is supplied in an endnote, however the reference is a strain on the narrative. Kimball would have done much better not to include such references at all, however they are laced throughout the book.

Despite such quirks in his narrative, Kimball still manages to deliver a good review of the leaders and their strategies for winning World War II. Churchill is depicted as loveable, immature, brilliant, drunk, determined, and loyal to his country and empire. Roosevelt is shown to be shrewd, duplicitous, patrician, informal, irreverent, and equally committed to his nation's interests. FDR constantly urges Churchill to abandon his colonies in favor of self-determination for those under British rule. Churchill is adamant in his desire to maintain the empire. Kimball completed a three-volume study titled Churchill and Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence. He draws heavily on this research and includes choice quotes from the correspondence between the two wartime leaders. Kimball looks far beyond the Churchill-Roosevelt correspondence however, and gives the reader a comprehensive summary of both the Churchill-Roosevelt relationship and their independent actions as they led the world to victory over the Nazis. The book focuses on the war in Europe with fewer references to the war in Asia. Stalin is also prominent in this narrative as befits the leader of the nation who took the brunt of what Hitler's armies had to offer.

Kimball reviews all of the summit meetings of the war from the Atlantic Conference through Yalta. Churchill met with Roosevelt eleven times, with Stalin twice, and all three met on two occasions. The travel logistics and risks were enormous in these meetings, especially for the handicapped Roosevelt. Churchill too was not a young and strong man. Included among Churchill's many serious health problems is the story of when he nearly died of pneumonia after the Tehran Conference.

Kimball argues against putting excessive blame to "losing eastern Europe" at Yalta, reminding the reader that most of the postwar agreements, including the fate of eastern Europe, were already agreed to prior to Yalta. Those agreements were made with the Soviet Union when they were a desperately needed ally in the fight against Hitler. Churchill was especially worried about Stalin negotiating a separate peace with Hitler.

Even with his quirky writing style, Kimball managed to write an excellent history of Churchill, Roosevelt, and their wartime leadership that led to the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany and set the foundation for the postwar world.

Warren Kimball once again, with an adeptness uncommon among documentary-based historical narratives, weaves his way through the complexities of the Roosevelt-Churchill wartime partnership. As suggested by the title, Kimball frames for the reader a political and personal relationship that, although rife with an undercurrent of conflict, ultimately is hammered into the finest weapon of war. A picture immerges of two leaders, who despite the immense internal political and external military pressures of the war, never lost their edge in dealing with one another, let alone their common foes. Many internal skirmishes over the conduct of war policy are revealed in the author's apt analysis of the documents. The correspondence reveals that the duo often disagreed quite intensly about the conduct of the war and the way to win the peace at war's end. The careful reader will appreciate the pains professor Kimball undertook to reveal the many shades of the relationsip. The two statesmen did not always see eye to eye and frequently utilized subtle, to not-so-subtle methods of deception in order to force the other's hand or coax the other slowly but surely to eventually concurr. However, a final balance in the narrative is achieved by a paralleling focus on Roosevelt's and Churchill's shared mutual objectives. In the end it was Roosevelt's and Churchill's compatible visions of future that transended their differences in style, personal judgement and even national self-interest.

Fop Flop In the most elegant apparel Nothing but worm silks In the finest golden thread And superior king red velvet sashes

You'd think I would have known better? I couldn't blame them who wouldn't? cut air with scissors while sewing their needles into invisible cloth for the very low price of..... silk a loom golden thread a full bag of coins Oh those Villain Scoundrels! Now, I know not to buy such vestments with rather large investments Oh what a bratty gnatty I was For I thought I was cool but truly a fool Why emperor you look rather bare, that's quite rare! I was in such a pursuit For only a birthday suit I must admit now Me, My very own self yes indeed, your emperor himself have become a stupid and incompetent dandy All for the Imaginary Image! and now I live happily ever after, no more garb well, that is until the next apparel discovery (Now if you'll excuse me there's a clothier waiting at my door who says he's created the latest design in Pajama attire)

Generally, I do not care for audio books; many of the readers speak in a dull voice that rapidly drives me either away from the story or to sleep. However, there are a few exceptions; this is one.

Understand, that this is not the normal audio book; this edtion has a large cast of actors who collaborated to produce this item as a fund raiser for Starbright.

The result is an ensemble piece that is witty and charming. Part of the fun for me, was guessing who was reading before looking at the cast list included in the box.

Other folks feel that this isn't for children; I don't know as I don't have children, but I found that my "inner child" was highly entertained for 40 minutes with this tape.

If you are a fan of one or more of the actors in this edition or like puns (there are many here!), then you will probably like the Starbright edtion of the Emporer's New Clothes.

I had been given 2 of these books from a friend and I decided to see if there were anymore. My son loves this book. He's now working on reading the adult side. It's a great idea to have a page each, 1 for the adult and 1 for the child. We have several of these books now and I see my son sitting down and reading them on his own.

This is the fictional account of a very real love affair, told by "the other woman." The relationship, by itself was not an uncommon one, although the characters could have been created by Edith Wharton. They are east coast, upper-class, elite; patricians to-the-manor-born. It is really not an epic love story like that of Josephine and Napoleon, or Cleopatra and Antony, or even the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Fortunately, for history's sake, no one gave up a throne...or the presidency for this love. The three people who comprise the love triangle, however, are of epic proportion - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt and Lucy Mercer. And each of these people, as individuals, and in their relationship to one another, had a major role to play in the course of world events, from the time that Lucy met Franklin and Eleanor, just before World War I, through the Great Depression, until the end of Franklin's life, right before the end of World War II.

While reading this novel, I initially thought it to be short on substance - more than fluff, but lacking in weight - perhaps it needed more historical detail. But after reading the book, I was left with a feeling of deep sadness at the poignancy of the love that existed between Lucy and Franklin, and between Eleanor and Franklin. Ellen Feldman has given us Lucy's voice, a woman's voice from a time long ago, (for some reason I remember Lily Bart from Edith Wharton's "House of Mirth"). And that voice tells us the history of a love which is the center of her life - so that the history of the world becomes peripheral. And that one historical viewpoint becomes unique and compelling.

I admire Ms. Feldmans work tremendously. I also admire her courage in writing a historical novel of merit about such famous, public figures. So much has been written about them already - yet few have touched on this subject. Ms. Feldman writes beautifully, with a quiet passion and a certain delicacy. Her characters are well drawn and true.

There is a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt at the end of the book that moved me very much. She says, "[If you] cannot meet the need of someone whom [you] dearly love...you must learn to allow someone else to meet the need, without bitterness or envy, and accept it."

I've been an avid reader of historical novels for the past forty years, and consider Ellen Feldman's Lucy one of the best. It is an informative, entertaining and richly detailed depiction of the love affair that Franklin D. Roosevelt had with Eleanor's social secretary Lucy Mercer. It is also a vivid and accurate account of that crucial period in world history between both world wars, and WWII itself. It takes courage for a novelist to write a book narrated by a historical figure, and Feldman does so with masterful restraint, thus creating a realistic and convincing portrait. Lucy comes across as a sensitive and caring woman willing to make any sacrifice for the man she loves, a man who returns her love, and realizes in the end that had Franklin left his wife for her the scandal would have ruined him, and history as we know it would be another story. FDR himself emerges as the giant he was, but susceptible to the passions that also made him human. And Eleanor bears it all with the type of stoical pride, dignity, and wit that made her the great woman she was. I once shook her hand, and still feel her warmth in my palm. It's an important story unknown to many. It's great to know, and recall, that in those pre-paparazzi, pre-TV, pre-tabloid bilge, pre-Ken Star, pre-base politician days people still respected the office of the presidency and didn't stoop to any low level just to make a few bucks, ruin a career, and embarrass a nation. Overall, this is a wonderful novel by the underrated Ms. Feldman. One can only hope she continues to write such fine narratives.

This book was wonderful. It kept my attention throughtout the story and made you wish for more. It made FDR seem like a real person with real feelings. I also become curious about Eleanor and am now reading a biography about her. This is wonderful!

It's tempting to say that no biography of FDR can be boring, given his extraordinary life and the length of time he served as President. Ted Morgan's "FDR" has lots going for it: it's a single volume biography (admittedly long); and it's no hagiography in that FDR's failings, both as a politician and human being, are not glossed over.

But, I found that "FDR" had significant faults which marred my enjoyment of it somewhat. It purported to be a serious biography and indeed for much of the time, that's how it read, but Morgan had too much of a prediliction for lapsing into anecdotes and folksy stories, thereby sending the book down unnecessary side alleys. In all, there was too much of that and too little serious analysis: it's almost extraordinary that no attempt was made to do an inquest on the New Deal. Space might have been a problem, but surely an evaluation of FDR's Presidency requires this?

At times, Morgan is just clumsy. In 1925, FDR invited helped some fellow polio victims staying at Warm Springs. Morgan summed it up:

"It felt good to be in command of something again, even if was only half a dozen cripples."

Writing with all the subtlety of a train crash. Surely, by that analysis FDR himself was "only a cripple"?

Not a horribly bad piece of work, but could have been far better.

G Rodgers

When historians are asked to rank our greatest Presidents, three men nearly always fill the top 3 positions: Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Although FDR, who served from 1933-1945, is by far the most recent of our truly "great" Presidents, he has become an oddly forgotten figure by many Americans, and lesser Presidents such as Harry Truman and John F Kennedy have captured the public's imagination. Yet Roosevelt accomplished far more than any of his successors, and he has the distinction of leading America through two of the worst crises in its' history: the Great Depression and World War Two. In some ways this may account for FDR's strange obscurity in today's politics and historical memory, for like Lincoln and Washington, FDR's achievements are so great that he doesn't seem as "human" as leaders such as Truman, nor as dramatic and tragic as a Kennedy. In this thoroughly engrossing biography, Ted Morgan brings us not the larger-than-life FDR of myth, but a fully human, "warts-and-all" look at our longest-serving Chief Executive. Morgan vividly brings to life the priviliged world that FDR grew up in, and offers marvelous anecdotes and portraits of FDR and the people in his life that brings the man and his era alive in a way that no other FDR biography even approaches. While other historians may offer a more fact-filled and event-oriented approach, many of their books (such as Frank Freidel's biography) are often dry and fail to grasp why FDR was so popular with the public or why he became such a dominant political figure. Morgan includes most of the great events of Roosevelt's life - his fight against polio, the years as Governor of New York, the New Deal, his leadership in World War Two - but he also mentions little details and stories that illustrate the impact he had on ordinary people's lives during the Depression, and shows how even his personal flaws (such as his endless capacity for telling people exactly what they wanted to hear, even if he had no intention of meeting their requests) were actually political strengths. Morgan doesn't shy away from the dark sides of FDR's life and career that many of his other biographers refuse to mention. Among these are his long love affair with Lucy Mercer, which nearly ended his marriage to his distant cousin Eleanor; his involvement in a sordid sex scandal involving using US Navy sailors to catch a homosexual Episcopalian priest, which FDR approved as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and then lied about his involvement when the scheme was discovered and came under criticism; his habit of lying, even to his closest friends and advisors; and his general lack of parenting skills with his children. But Morgan also includes the more positive aspects of FDR's personality - the sympathy for the underdog; the genuine concern to help the less-fortunate in our society; the ability to innovate, try out new ideas and programs, and the ability to radiate confidence and optimism to a nation that sorely needed both traits in the dark days of the Depression and World War, all these and more are described by Morgan. If you want a straightforward, chronological account of FDR's Presidency, then there are other books which will offer you the basics of FDR's political career. But if you want to understand FDR as a person and human being, as well as a great political leader, then this book is by far your best choice. For its' ability to offer a portrait of a President that literally gives you the feeling that you "knew" the man personally, Ted Morgan's "FDR" is without peer...an excellent read for any US history or political buff!

FDR is a frustrating figure, in my opinion, because he was so big, and so transformative a leader (to pin James MacGregor Burns's taxonomy of leadership onto him) that every other biography of him I have seen has become reduced to simply the author's bias and idiosyncratic interpretation of him. Some little twerp laboring over a PhD thesis for 10 years gives us a whole book on FDR and the Supreme Court, or FDR and public works, or FDR and WW II. Boring.

Which is where this one comes in. I bought it more than 15 years ago, but never really read it until last year. Before then, I was only interested in "proof texting" FDR to basically show what a socialist bad guy he was, a poor comparative reflection of cousin Theodore. In this sense, too-high a view of Theodore dooms FDR to second-best. Then I read Churchill's 6 Vol. history of WW II, and through that lens saw a very compelling FDR, one big enough to "run" Churchill. And Churchill makes it clear in his history why it was utterly impossible for the West to save Eastern and Central Europe from the Russians. Explaining this take on things drops the charges against FDR so long-brought by the John Birchers--that somehow he gave away the world to the communists.

Ted Morgan gets deep into this, but by way of Roosevelt's childhood and familial relations, focusing on Franklin's impossible mother--the root of his famous evasiveness, says Morgan. Then on into minor politics after a little Harvard; a glimpse of some adultery, and then polio. The adultery is interesting, because compared to someone like Bill Clinton, FDR's sounds quite focused, or even traditional--his Lucy Mercer of Pre-Presidency fame stays in the picture, and is in the room with him 4 terms later when he has his stroke after going thru the morning's mail at the resort in Georgia he had purchased (in pale, or maybe non-pale imitation of Teddie's purchase of the badlands ranch--both places of rehabilitation for each Roosevelt).

And although Eleanor may have played house in a cottage behind Franklin's Mom's ancestral property, with a few lesbian friends, she, too is a sympathetic figure, putting up with Franklin, then becoming his functional nurse, and raising their children in the scant time left after working on the ills of the rest of the world. Something like Hillary with more empathy, or substance. How about Hillary minus the switchblade?

Somewhere in all of the polio and then political battle, FDR decided to be great; and this seems to have translated, as the story unfolds through Morgan, into a similar decision to make the United States great, and dominant. Doing this while paralyzed from the waist down, and while taking time to "stick it" to old foes in the New York State government throughout his presidency, induces a kind of involuntary admiration which lets me see how people like Bill Clinton are so drawn to the FDR memory, and how they seek to replay FDR's utter commitment to the moment and the audience. Compared to a Clinton, the multimillionaire Dutchman from upstate New York paradoxically had a lot less to prove, but yet accomplished so much more.

So after a long time admiring Teddy and dumping on Frank, this book makes it clear to me that although an FDR without the preexisting Teddy would not have been possible, FDR very arguably accomplished a great deal more than TR. As recent, more critical biographers of Teddy explain (H.W. Brands, TR: The Last Romantic), Teddy sort of fanatacized-out during his third party phase, maybe paralleling Winston Churchill's father's flame-out--an interesting common point which may have given these two leaders in their wartime phase the ability to compromise and survive, when it would be easier to lecture and purify (and get tossed out).

Thus the connection with the mess of the war, and part of the explanation for us coming out on top (in spite of FDR's child like view of India, and some-said-strange courting of Ibn Saud). If these actions were designed to take adavntage not only of Germany's destruction, but also of England's slide, then FDR succeeded. Maybe Churchill would call him another Marlborough, had he been related, due to this balance of power maneuvering. But maybe FDR didn't intend it that way at all, if he was more a tool of providence mingled in with great effort (kind of an Augustinian view of political success).

In summary, I'm not as hacked off as I used to be when I see FDR's face on our dimes, after reading this book. It's OK with me now if stays right there. He puts a better human face on our money than a stylized Mercury-head yanked from mythology. And that's what this author has also done for me.

One thing I'd like to see a future historian look into: Campobello Island, the family's version of the Kennedy compound, is actually in Canadian territorial water (so I'm told). What relationship did this have to the Roosevelt family import fortune of glass and hardware back in the 1700s and 1800s? Was there a tax avoidance or illegality angle, like the Forbes family, the Bronfmans of Canada (See Peter Newman's book "Bronfman Dynasty" on that), and the Kennedys? That would complete the economic substrate of our knowledge of this family, long since passed, it seems, into fashionable senescense. And sure, all families seem to decline; but few leave behind such great men.

Which gets us back to the pack of FDR authors. They're everywhere, some of their books skinny, some quite fat. But this one really stands out. I highly recommend it.