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Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship | 
 enlarge | Author: Jon Meacham
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
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Rating:  58 reviews
Sales Rank: 2637
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0812972821
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.530922
EAN: 9780812972825
ASIN: 0812972821
Publication Date: October 12, 2004
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Product Description
The most complete portrait ever drawn of the complex emotional connection between two of history’s towering leaders
Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were the greatest leaders of “the Greatest Generation.” In Franklin and Winston, Jon Meacham explores the fascinating relationship between the two men who piloted the free world to victory in World War II. It was a crucial friendship, and a unique one—a president and a prime minister spending enormous amounts of time together (113 days during the war) and exchanging nearly two thousand messages. Amid cocktails, cigarettes, and cigars, they met, often secretly, in places as far-flung as Washington, Hyde Park, Casablanca, and Teheran, talking to each other of war, politics, the burden of command, their health, their wives, and their children.
Born in the nineteenth century and molders of the twentieth and twenty-first, Roosevelt and Churchill had much in common. Sons of the elite, students of history, politicians of the first rank, they savored power. In their own time both men were underestimated, dismissed as arrogant, and faced skeptics and haters in their own nations—yet both magnificently rose to the central challenges of the twentieth century. Theirs was a kind of love story, with an emotional Churchill courting an elusive Roosevelt. The British prime minister, who rallied his nation in its darkest hour, standing alone against Adolf Hitler, was always somewhat insecure about his place in FDR’s affections—which was the way Roosevelt wanted it. A man of secrets, FDR liked to keep people off balance, including his wife, Eleanor, his White House aides—and Winston Churchill.
Confronting tyranny and terror, Roosevelt and Churchill built a victorious alliance amid cataclysmic events and occasionally conflicting interests. Franklin and Winston is also the story of their marriages and their families, two clans caught up in the most sweeping global conflict in history.
Meacham’s new sources—including unpublished letters of FDR’s great secret love, Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, the papers of Pamela Churchill Harriman, and interviews with the few surviving people who were in FDR and Churchill’s joint company—shed fresh light on the characters of both men as he engagingly chronicles the hours in which they decided the course of the struggle.
Hitler brought them together; later in the war, they drifted apart, but even in the autumn of their alliance, the pull of affection was always there. Charting the personal drama behind the discussions of strategy and statecraft, Meacham has written the definitive account of the most remarkable friendship of the modern age.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 53 more reviews...
 Not Much New Here November 19, 2008
To anyone who's done any reading at all about these two men, most of this book is repetitive. This is another venture into the friendship of the two world leaders during a perilous time for our world and I must say I found it a little superficial. Maybe my problem is that I have long been familiar with the friendship between these two. Doris Kearns Goodwin's "No Ordinary Time" does, I feel, a superior job of analyzing the relationship between Churchill and Roosevelt. Meacham's book is creditable and nothing is lost by reading it. Also, whether intended or not, he seems to paint Roosevelt as more of an opportunist than Churchill. I find myself wondering if Roosevelt really liked Winston or if he just feigned friendship as a marriage of convenience. In any case, this is a well done book. But not in the same league as Kearns Goodwin's book, which presented a more nuanced description of the two men's friendship.
 The Friendship that saved the West November 3, 2008
Meacham delves into the relationship of two of the greatest leaders of the western world.
This book is not necessarily a great place to find the history of the era as a background of the information is almost assumed by Meacham at times.
That was no bother and the wires and letters written between the two men were very telling. This book offers great documents and Meacham has certainly done his homework on this era. Quotes and interviews have been taken from people close to these great leaders.
Most go away from History type books because they feel they are dry. This book breaks that sterotype as it reads like a story of two great men. It is intriguing to discover the personalities of the men and how they overcame difficulties (Polio for FDR, and Churchill with his want for attention from his parents) to become the men that they are. Their personalities not only influenced the relationship of the two men, but also of two of the most influential nations in the world.
Meacham does a good job of enforcing the peril that world was in, and how the two men rescued with their personality and ability to persuade others to follow them.
This is a must read for those interested in not only WWII but in the theory of history being biographies of great men, which Meacham reminds of his readers of nearly constantly.
An Epic Friendship in Global Politics September 30, 2008
As noted by author Jon Meacham, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt's first meeting at Gray's Inn in 1918 was not a success. Roosevelt, 36 at the time disliked Churchill's brusqueness.
It wasn't until 21 years later when Roosevelt wrote to the Lord of the Admiralty in reference to the German invasion of Poland that we see the start of a long friendship and political alliance.
As Meacham states, Roosevelt was indeed the supreme politician. Winston was the warmer human being. This is a friendship of great magnitude. Both men were addicted to tobacco and favored strong drink, battleships, pageantry, high office and were great orators. Both of them possessed large egos, They both demanded nothing but the best from their subordinates.
In the end Roosevelt held all the cards and was able to get the desired results of the War. Great Britain despite their loyalty to the Allied cause became in the end a second tier power in the postwar World. Roosevelt passes from the scene in 1945. Winston goes on to fight the demons of the Cold War.
Meacham goes into depth in this rather awkward relationship. It is a friendship which should be studied and in the end respected for the results it gave. I commend Mr. Meacham on a perceptive analysis of a remarkable political alliance which affected mankind. Great job! Five Stars.
Not a history book, not a bibliography, this book is about friendship and humanity July 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Jon Meacham has woven a beautiful account of these two great characters from a most human and emotional perspective. Meecham doesn't just historically replay events, he gets us inside these two great men and allows us to share in their emotional connections with the war, their families, politics, and each other. Doing this on two men at the same time is a special treat afforded by the voluminous resources available on these particular men and their interaction with each other. The ability to peer into the inner workings of two great minds during the same shared experiences is like having special powers that Franklin and Winston, who were always wondering what each other was thinking, would have enjoyed immensely.
WWII is unquestionably a dramatic current that keeps the pages turning but this book is, as the author clearly states, not an academic history book on the events of WWII or even the historical conferences between Franklin, Winston and later Stalin. This book is about humanity. I found myself shedding tears at the death of Franklin because Meecham exposed the personal sense of loss Winston (and others) felt in a way that even Winston could not convey in tributes to Franklin.
This book wasn't written to expose historical events, historical event collectors will be disappointed. The book exposes historical thoughts and emotions, courage and insecurities, uncertainty and stubbornness, loneliness and the joy of making genuine connections with others. This a different kind of history, one that might seem inherently speculative if it weren't for Meecham's extensive reliance on reliable sources. His references are almost 1/3 the book and are primarily Franklin, Winston, or friends and family that were immediately present and close to subjects. I'm extremely uncomfortable with whimsical author speculation and always felt comfortable with this book.
I came away with little new knowledge about historical events, but a much closer personal understanding of these two men. Well worth the trip.
They saved the world from Hitler March 1, 2008
Knowing how WWII was one of the greatest upheavals of human history, I've been a buff for years and recommend this great book to all who are also fascinated by this period. Getting a "behind the scenes" glimpse of world events is a special treat; theirs was truly a unique relationship and one arrives at a better understanding thanks to this excellent use of source materials and narrative, by Jon Meacham. I hated to come to the end of the marvelous book.
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