FDR
Renowned historian and Marshall University political science professor
Jean Edward Smith will appear at Lunch With Books on Tuesday, November 27th at noon to discuss his new biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt, called
FDR. The reviews of the book have been ecstatic. Publishers Weekly, in a boxed, starred review (their highest category), called
FDR “a magisterial biography.” Smith’s “eloquent synthesis of FDR’s complex and compelling life is remarkably executed and a joy to read.”
Library Journal, in another starred review, labeled FDR “essential.” “This page-turner is the best single volume biography available of America’s 32nd president.”
Kirkus Reviews also gave FDR a star and said, “An outstanding biography of ‘the most gifted American statesman of the twentieth century’.”
Other reviewers have been equally enthusiastic. John Meacham of Newsweek author of Franklin and Winston, called FDR “a towering new biography.” Syndicated columnist George Will wrote, “Jean Edward Smith, author of acclaimed biographies of John Marshall, the definer of the nation, and Ulysses Grant, whose sword saved the nation, now provides this study of Franklin Roosevelt, reviver of the nation. It will secure Smith’s standing as today’s foremost biographer of formidable figures in American history.”
Random House, Smith’s publisher, apparently shares that view. It ordered a first printing of 75,000 copies – almost unprecedented for a scholarly biography.
Professor Smith, who was one of three finalists for the Pulitzer prize in 2002 for his biography of U.S. Grant, is the author of twelve books, including a biography of Chief Justice John Marshall. Professor Smith earned his undergraduate degree fromPrinceton University, received his Ph.D. from Columbia University, and served as a professor of political economy at the University of Toronto for many years.
More glowing reviews of FDR from across the nation:
“FDR is practically a Cliff Notes bio. This is a terrific one-volume comprehensive look at an extraordinary life.” --USA Today
“Smith’s FDR is a model presidential biography...Now at last, we have the biography that is right for the man...Smith “is that rarest and most welcome of historians, one who addresses a serious popular readership without sacrificing high scholarly standards.” --Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post
“Smith vibrantly captures the complete drama of an American original.” --Newark Star-Ledger
“Jean Edward Smith is an accomplished biographer, and he lays out in the most charming prose the dynamics of a gifted politician”. --Michael P. Riccards, The Washington Times
“Jean Edward Smith has dug more deeply into the Roosevelt collection of books and documents than all of his predecessors. The result is a picture of the 32nd President richer in detail and explanation than any other work. Even Smith’s footnotes throughout the text, not to mention his 153 pages of endnotes, are instructive and absorbing.”
--Professor Henry F. Graff
Columbia University
The New Leader
“Smith, in this remarkable, sympathetic biography, doesn’t flinch at Roosevelt’s mistakes….The Roosevelt who emerges here – neither a stranger nor a painted icon – is flawed and magnificent.” --The New Yorker
“FDR will secure Smith’s standing as today’s foremost biographer of formidable figures in American history.” --George F. Will
“A magisterial biography…Smith’s eloquent synthesis of FDR’s complex and compelling life is remarkably executed and a joy to read.” --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A rare combination of history and narrative prose.” --Buffalo News
