Rating: 
Summary: Color commentary fights content
Review: This is an odd biography. It ought to be called "the parts of FDR's life that interested Conrad Black with extensive color commentary by Conrad Black." Mr. Black interjects his opinion and comments about the events he is describing intrusively and constantly, right in the middle of the text. Sometimes Mr. Black finds his opinions/speculations/random thoughts and tidbits about FDR and his times rather more interesting than FDR himself. There is plenty of conventional biography (though rather uneven, for instance Eleanor Roosevelt is relegated to being someone who pops in once in a blue moon to nag FDR), but it gets welded to a psychohistory. While Black has a number of interesting insights and educated guesses, he makes a few rather dubious ones (for instance, he presumes far greater rationality on Hitler's part than the record shows). While Black's psychohistory of FDR is probably pretty much on target, at times he pushes this a little too far, and you begin to think FDR wasn't just the greatest American president of the twentieth century, but also its greatest psychic. This fault is exasperated by Mr. Black's habit of delivering near-mystical panegyrics to FDR whenever the mood strikes him, whether appropriate or not, which is a bit too often. The book is very readable, if inclined to the gossipy side. It's not a bad book at all, but it really could have used an editor enpowered to restrain Mr. Black's more than occasional but less than obsessive excesses. I've emphasized the negative simply because terms like "definitive biography" have been used to describe this book. It is no such thing. Rather, it is rather more like a funnish romp through his life, with Conrad Black as co-star commentator. The results are better than one might suppose, but this is certainly not a great book or the only book on FDR one needs to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Why politicians should read this book
Review: While I must admit that I read many reviews of the book before I read it, I approached it with trepidation. But within minutes of picking the book up, my fear melted away as I was drawn into what is simply an outstanding account of the man who just may be the greatest American President, if not the most important man of the 20th century. Black's book demonstrates the folly of underestimating your rival or even your "good friend."
Politicians, both Republicans and Democrats, never understood just how masterful a strategist Roosevelt was, until it was too late. His political instincts, as Black recounts time and time again, were brilliant, timely and barely comprehended by his rivals until after the fact. His courage and charm transparently disguised his polio and transformed all those around him. He invented and innovated and practised politics that modern politicians with countless aids, consultants and advisors could never conceive of, let alone plan to enable. He led great men without intending to and impressed even the most cynical and brutal men of the 20th century. For an illuminating and superb account of how America was transormed from an economic basket case in the twenties to the greatest empire in modern history by a single man's incredible vision, read Mr. Black's amazing biography.
Rating:
Summary: A Worthy and Substantial Addition
Review: With the possible exception of Lincoln, no other president of the United States was more loved and more hated than was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Obviously, only someone who has a special interest in him would be checking out reviews of this book. Equally obvious to me, only someone encouraged by those reviews would then read a book of 1,280 pages (including its Index), especially given the fact that so many other excellent books about FDR have already been published. That said, I agree with Alan Brinkley who in his own review suggested that "this enormous book is also one of the best one-volume biographies of Roosevelt yet." Black organizes his material within five Parts whose titles suggest the nature and scope of coverage:
The Presidential Squire, 1882-1932
The Great Depression and the New Deal, 1932-1938
Toward the Rendezvous with Destiny -- Undeclared War, 1938-1941
Day of Infamy and Years of Courage, 1941-1944
Pax Americana, 1944-
Although Black breaks no new ground and offers no head-snapping revelations, he does do quite well in delineating and then exploring FDR's multi-dimensional personality. So many paradoxes. Although born into wealth and social status and then educated at Groton and Harvard, FDR became a champion of those economically devastated by the Great Depression (e.g. 30% employment) when elected the 32nd president, initiating dozens of new programs (the New Deal) which created jobs, increased income for impoverished farmers, devalued the currency, enabled debtors to discharge debts, and reopened banks. Black cites dozens of examples which illustrate that, although possessed of almost irresistible charm, President Roosevelt seems to have used, abused, betrayed, ignored, or abandoned people whenever it served his purposes. However, there were millions of people throughout the world who understood and agreed with Winston Churchill's assertion that FDR was "the greatest man I have ever known." Black's portrayal of FDR is generally balanced even as he expresses his own admiration of a president who led his nation through a great depression and then through most of a world war. It's all here, awaiting the next eager and persistent reader.
Yes, this is indeed an "enormous book" but one which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. To those who prefer a more brief biography, I recommend Roy Jenkins' Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I also greatly admire Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox 1882-1940 and Roosevelt: Soldier of Freedom 1949-45 by James MacGregor Burns as well as Kathleen Judlinski's Franklin Delano Roosevelt, George McJimsey's The Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Jon Meacham's Franklin and Winston.
| 
