---------------------------------------------------
CHOICE Subject: Reference-Social and
Behavioral Sciences
---------------------------------------------------
McElvaine, Robert S.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, CQ Press, 2002. 368p
bibl index afp ISBN 1-56802-702-8, $89.95. Reviewed in 2003 May
CHOICE.
Both volumes, part of the "American
Presidents Reference Series,"
provide clear
introductions to the executive tenures of two of our
most venerated and
extensively documented presidents. Six chapters
offer brief overviews
of their prepresidential lives, campaign issues
and elections,
administration policies, crises and flashpoints, and
institutional
relations with the military, Congress, and the press. In
the final chapters,
the volume on
history; the
Summaries in each chapter are followed by
primary source documents,
including materials
from diaries, speeches, letters, and recollections
in the subjects' own
words or that of their contemporaries, known or
anonymous. Appendixes
introduce notable figures in each presidential
era and time lines of
key life events. These volumes will serve as
introductions to
these important presidencies; the extensive
bibliographies and
recommended readings can be used to explore further
themes introduced
here. Neither strictly biographical nor compilations
of writings, these
works combine original documentation and historical
analysis in an
accessible writing style that allows readers to
identify important
issues and draw conclusions about these iconic
figures. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers and lower-division
undergraduates. ---
K. M. Conley,