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Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, but more "why" is needed
Review: Frank Freidel has written a pretty good book about one of our most complex and admired presidents, but it certainly is not exhaustive. Freidel goes a good job explaining the who, what, where and when, but leaves out the all-important "why" in many of FDR's decisions. I would have loved to read more of FDR's thought processes and what went into his various decisions, especially at the all-important "Big 3" meetings at Tehran and Yalta. For instance, in David McCullough's Pulitzer-Prize winning tome, "Truman," we get plenty of meat on Truman's thoughts during the Potsdam conference - words from his diaries, notes to subordinates, etc. McCullough gives readers dozens and dozens of pages on Truman's analysis and thought processes during the critical conference. In contrast, readers really don't get terrific, exhaustive details in Freidel's book, and it's a letdown. These details separate a good presidential biography from a great one.
However, this is not a horrible book by any stretch. The author offers readers plenty about the 1932 election, FDR's disastrous decision to pack the Supreme Court, his thoughts and actions following Pearl Harbor, FDR's wartime strategy on the home front, his four presidential elections and even his death on April 12, 1945. Freidel covers the milestones of FDR's presidency well, but the devil is in the details. While I have not yet read Conrad Black's mammoth 1,200-page bio on FDR, one would hope it goes deeper than Freidel's 600-page tome. This book is recommended as a starter, or as part of a series of books to understand and study FDR.
Rating: 
Summary: great one volume life
Review: If one wants to start learning about the life of the 32nd President, this is the book the start. Friedel devoted his life to chronicling the life of this great leader. The book is very readable and covers all the important events in Roosevelt's life. The general reader and historian will be impressed.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Bio
Review: The best one volume biography on America's greatest President. As a historian I higly recommend this tome.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of Information but Leaves Something Out
Review: This biography starts with a nice background into the things Roosevelt did early in his life. Then it focuses on the things that he did during his political year, especially as president. It goes into great detail of what Roosevelt did in enacting programs, how he achieved his legislative goals, and who the other players were. It is very thorough in who and what. However, this book completely omits many the most importants aspects of Roosevelt and his presidency: the why. The book does not explain enough of what Roosevelt was trying to achieve - just that he decided to do this and that. The book says almost nothing about the Great Depression itself or of America. You have no idea what Roosevelt's impact was. Readers should also read something on the Great Depression era, like "Since Yesterday." You also learn very little about Roosevelt the person from the book. He was a very charming person who made an dignified Head of State impression to other nations. He was clever, and no two people agreed exactly as to what he was like or thought. He was famous for being clever and even giving people the wrong impression by nodding his head in agreement, and this book does not capture that. In short, this is a good book about Roosevelt's detailed interactions but it tells almost nothing about Roosevelt the person, Eleanor Roosevelt, or the historical significance of his presidency. One final thought. This is still a great book. The war period is excellent, and Friedel is definitely an unbiased and excellent historian. Just beware that the book leaves some important things out and adds in other unnecessary details. This is a good book for anyone with a general history of the era already, but "Champion of Freedom by Black" by Black and "Franklin D. Roosevelt" by Leuchtenburg are better choices.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of Information but Disappointing
Review: This book focuses on the presidential politics, especially relating to Congress, of Franklin Roosevelt. It goes into great detail of what Roosevelt did in enacting programs, how he achieved his legislative goals, and who the other players were. It is very thorough in who and what. However, this book completely skips the most importants aspects of Roosevelt and his presidency: the why. The book says almost nothing about the Great Depression. You get no picture of what is going on in America at the time. You have no idea what Roosevelt's impact was. You also learn very little about Roosevelt the person and what he was trying to achieve with his power - just that he decided to do this and that. In short, this is a good book about Roosevelt's detailed interactions (boring) but it tells almost nothing about Roosevelt the person, Eleanor Roosevelt, or the historical significance of his presidency. It's kind of a strange biography. Instead, I suggest Champion of Freedom by Black, Age of Roosevelt by Schlesinger, or Franklin D. Roosevelt by Leuchtenburg.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely indepth, and sometimes cumbersome
Review: This book was quite interesting, involving Roosevelts entire life, including every little nugget of his political life. If you are moderatly interested in FDR, read this book, but be warned, if you are just a casual reader, it may be best not to get a book that is so detailed. I certainly enjoyed this book, and would recommend to any political science student, or a person studying history. FDR was an interesting man, and it was a joy to read about this brilliant president.
Rating:
Summary: Complete & complex.
Review: This one volume biography of FDR is probably the best distillate possible, though the task is daunting and the result is less than perfect. At times, the book 'drags' a bit, particularly through the 30s. Explanations of New Deal politics perhaps don't lend themselves to the kind of exciting story-telling that wartime meetings at places such as Tehran and Yalta do. In fact, I sometimes felt the book lapsed into an economics textbook, but it is still mostly quite readable. Freidel does not editorialize much about his subject and so (fortunately) one is left to draw one's own conclusions about FDR.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book of a Great Man and American History
Review: This was an excellent book about FDR, the Great Depression, World War Two, and America in the 20th century. Frank Freidel's writing is so smooth, detailed and enjoyable. According to the back cover, Friedel is Charles Warren Professor of American History Emeritus at Harvard University. Apparently it is regarded as the best one-volume book on Roosevelt. You will learn alot about that period of American history and Roosevelt. Roosevelt is a little misunderstood. It seems to me he dealt with the serious problems before him and was, therefore, a practical man. The problems at that time required activist measures that seem very intelligent and mild by today's standards, and they have recieved universal acceptance by modern conservatives and everyone else. The problems he faced were 20%-35% of workers unemployed, farm industry crisis, banking crisis, idle factories, hunger, desolation, securities fraud, extreeme concentration of the wealth to a few, lack of even unemployment insurance for most americans, parts of the U.S. in third-world poverty status, rise of extreme political ideal in other parts of the world and the vulnerability of the U.S. to these ieas in time of crisis. Here are the first sentences of the first two through four paragraphs: "Roosevelt came of age with firm roots in both the reform movements of the progressive era and the genteel Grover Cleveland conservatism of the late nineteenth century.... Eleanor Roosevelt was correct; in some ways Roosevelt was a nineteenth-century figure like Disraeli and the Tory aristocrats in Victorian England, so certain of themselves that they dared undertake reforms.... Roosevelt, optimistic by nature, never doubted the mission of the American people and their great destiny." I thought the book was well written, yet very scholarly, so it may be a little demanding to read for some readers. I found him very fascinating. He was a warm, down-to-earth man, and yet a clever politician. For the first time in many years he opened his press conferences to a causual give-and-take with reporters, as opposed to the required questions in writing by the previous presidents. He was multi-dimensional. The book goes into detail about his economic policies. The part I liked best was about his leadership in World War 2. Fascinating! From the back cover: Doris Kearns Goodwin: "In this brilliant work, Friedel so vividly captures the fascinating complexity of Franklin D. Roosevelt's personality and the rich texture of his era that the reader feels magically transported back in time. It is a magnificently readable saga and deserves all the high praise it will get." Otis L. Graham, Jr. Editor of Franklin D. Roosevelt, His Life and Times: An Encyclopedia: "One can only say, Bravo! He has completed his awesome task with this fast-paced summary volume, and sustained across this lifetime project a felicitous combination of sympathetic insight and critical judgement. The book caps a splendid achievement in biography and literature." John S.D. Eisenhower: "In reading Professor Freidel's account of Franklin D. Roosevelt's role in World War II, I find him both illuminating and absorbing. I learned something new on each page." John Kenneth Galbraith: "No one else has told so much in one volume. Good judgment and lucid prose are combined with the best of professional scholarship. Perhaps I can lay a special claim to judgment, for I am one of the diminishing band that was there." Geoffrey C. Ward: "For more than four decades now, Frank Freidel has steeped himself in Franklin Roosevelt and his record, and his new one-volume biography is a fine distillation of all that he has learned. It provides a solid introduction to the mercurial, maddening but indisputably great man."
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Study of a Great Man in Tough Times: FDR
Review: This was an excellent book. Along with the biographies I read on Truman, Lincoln and T.R., this was the best biography I read. You will learn alot about that period of American history and Roosevelt. The book is loaded with details. I originally learned about it from a bibliography on a PBS show on FDR, and supposedly it is the best one-volume book on Roosevelt. I thought the book was thorough, so it may be a little demanding for the general reader. The benefit of that thoroughness is that the book seems to presents an accurate account of the facts, I felt, and not a posterity portrait like Washington or even Jefferson. I found him very fascinating. The parts about his speeches and fireside chats were marvelous. The book goes into alot of details about his economic policies. The part I liked best was about World War 2. Thrilling!
Rating:
Summary: A good book, but disappointing.
Review: Was FDR one of the four or five greatest American presidents, a man who worked tirelessly to alleviate the suffering caused by the Great Depression and who was instrumental in our victory in WWII, or was he a conniving manipulator who took unfair advantage of the fact that the depression started during his predecessor's term, and played politics with the suffering of millions in order to consolidate his and his party's power base, at the cost of establishing an entitlement culture that is even now, 60 years later, still sapping the vitality from the great American tradition of self-reliance? If you have an opinion on the answer to this question going into this book, your answer will determine your opinion of the book, for the book is unquestionably (and unsurprisingly; biographers only rarely take the time to study and write about a subject they dislike) pro-Roosevelt. If you had no idea that such a question existed, this book certainly won't make you aware of it, and you may well find it a very valuable and informative biography. But if you, like me, were aware that the question existed and were undecided on the answer to it coming in, this book gives very little information to help resolve the debate, because it is so unshakably favorable that it discounts, rather than attempting to refute, the arguments defending an anti-Roosevelt viewpoint. As such, it is virtually impossible to judge, based on the information given here, the value of the man, because the information is simply not produced dispassionately enough.
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