A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt, 1905-1928 - Softcover

Ward, Geoffrey C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0804173354 ISBN 13: 9780804173353

Publisher: Random House USA Inc, 2014

Synopsis

In this classic of American biography, based upon thousands of original documents, many never previously published, the prize-winning historian Geoffrey C. Ward tells the dramatic story of Franklin Roosevelt's unlikely rise from cloistered youth to the brink of the presidency with a richness of detail and vivid sense of time, place, and personality usually found only in fiction.

In these pages, FDR comes alive as a fond but absent father and an often unfeeling husband--the story of Eleanor Roosevelt's struggle to build a life independent of him is chronicled in full-as well as a charming but pampered patrician trying to find his way in the sweaty world of everyday politics and all-too willing willing to abandon allies and jettison principle if he thinks it will help him move up the political ladder. But somehow he also finds within himself the courage and resourcefulness to come back from a paralysis that would have crushed a less resilient man and then go on to meet and master the two gravest crises of his time.

About this title

Review:

"Definitive for our time." --The Boston Globe

"An incomparable study . . . immensely informative about Roosevelt's meteoric public career but also refreshingly honest about a private life that was both spacious and constricted."--The New York Times Book Review

"Ward's sensitive biography avoids easy judgments . . . With an empathy heightened by a shared physical disability, Ward depicts, in extraordinary and moving detail, the ways a lifetime battle against polio affected Roosevelt . . . a beautiful story, beautifully told."--Los Angeles Times

"Every American knows the story in its outline, but this remarkable book tells it with fresh materials, fresh insights and fresh power--a splendid and moving achievement."--Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

"A brilliant portrait of 'the great man' in the making."--David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of John Adams

About the Author:

Geoffrey C. Ward is the coauthor of The Civil War (with Ken Burns and Ric Burns), and the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Francis Parkman Prize. He lives in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0804173354
• ISBN 13: 9780804173353
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 944