Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding
Review: The Conquerors by Michale Beschloss is one of my new faviort books on the market. If you are a history buff like myself i highly recomand this book for you. The book starts a bit slow but soon explodse with the first atempt to kill Adof Hitler.The book starts off with the United States Presendint Roosevelt and soon leads into Trumans Rain. I really could go on for hours about this great read but i dont whant to spoile the whole book for you. i highly recomand this read for a history buff like myself. plez give it a chance you will love it.
Rating: 
Summary: Book about Henry Morgenthau
Review: This is a book about Henry Morgenthau and his plan to make Germany an agricultural country after the war, and to take away all German industry.
It is also about Morgenthau and his conversion from an accounting type to one that wanted to help his fellow Jews after he found out about the German death camps.Roosevelt and Truman are included as supporting actors in this book about Morgenthau.
The book probably took 11 years to write because the author must have been as bored writing it as I was reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Not a book I can recommend for reasons indicated below.
Review: Whittaker Chambers (a former operative in the American Communist party) spurred by the announcement of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, went to the assistant secretary of state Adolf Berle september 2, 1939 and told this gentleman details about Soviet agents operating within the US government. This information FDR and/or the State department summarily dismissed. Meanwhile Alger Hiss, since proven to have been a Soviet source (amongst ohers named by Chambers) continued to operate; Hiss eventually accompanying FDR to Yalta! In addition, Harry White at treasury, likewise having been documented to have been in cahoots with Soviet intelligence, worked as Secretary Morganthau's right-hand man in various positions. Why am I telling you this? Because Michael Beschloss waited 4 years before completing this book as he awaited various files to be de-classified. Yet, after all this, including "Venona project" transcripts of deciphered Soviet cables and some release of Russian archiveal material pertinent herein, Beschloss barely addresses this issue. He mentions White, but almost completely ignores the issue of his influence within the administration of FDR. For instance, the draconian Morganthau plan to punish Germany after the war was heavily promoted by Harry White. I wonder to what extent this may have been his inititive; and to what extent a Soviet asset within the US government was promoting a policy highly beneficial to the USSR. Moreover, FDR's whole negoiating position must have been compromised by Hiss at Yalta, with Stalin knowing in advance what FDR was willing to give ground on. Yet, Beschloss has nothing to say about Hiss or any of the other agents identified by Chambers. Perhaps one can still make the case that FDR deftly handled the war, but with the Soviets knowing much of the behind the scenes activity within FDR's adminstration; coupled with FDR's inaction to hinder Hitler's extermination of Jews once this became known; with all the administrative chaos engineered by FDR to keep most of his advisors (including, unforgivably, Truman) in the dark or at odds with one another; with FDR's adoption of the Morganthau plan then his opposition to it; with all this, it's hard to make the case that FDR was an impeccable commander in chief. Admittedly, it is easier if you ignore much of the above as Beschloss does. He may have waited for various files to have become public, but he seems not to have taken any of their import into account, going along with his conclusions reached beforehand. To boot, the subtitle of this book," Roosevelt, Truman and the defeat of Hitler's Germany" is not particularly apt, as it was a Roosevelt operation in large measure; and, as indicated above, was one not without flaws either.Contrary to some other Amazon reviewers, I do not see the point of reading this book. One could do much better by choosing works more thorough in their treatment of this topic. Light-hearted though it is, even "Franklin and Winston" by Jon Mecham is immeasurably better than this volume. And if you want to read about Truman, i suggest David McCullough's excellent biography of that man from Missouri. Cheers
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