Helen Plum Library

Two Depression-battered nations confronted destiny in 1932, going to the polls in their own way to anoint new leaders, to rescue their people from starvation and hopelessness. America would elect a Congress and a president-ebullient aristocrat Franklin Roosevelt or tarnished "Wonder Boy" Herbert Hoover. Decadent, divided Weimar Germany faced two rounds of bloody Reichstag elections and two presidential contests-doddering reactionary Paul von Hindenburg...

"In one vitally significant year in American history, the country would experience turmoil, instability, natural disaster, bubbling political radicalism, and a rise of dangerous forces ushering in a new era of global conflict--and emerge both afresh and revitalized. At the start of 1932, the nation's worst economic crisis has left one-in-four workers without a job, countless families facing eviction, banks shutting down as desperate depositors withdraw...

Tells the story of the Civilian Conservation Corp through a close look at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia (the CCC's first project) and through the personal stories and work of young men around the nation who came of age and changed their country for the better working in Roosevelt's Tree Army. -- amazon.com

The first-ever biography of Anna Marie Rosenberg, a Hungarian Jewish immigrant who became a real power behind national policies critical to America winning World War II and prospering afterwards, chronicles her extraordinary career as FDR's special envoy to Europe during the war and an adviser to five presidents As Franklin Delano Roosevelt's special envoy to Europe in World War II, Anna Rosenberg went where the president couldn't go. She was among...

"New York Times bestselling historian Craig Nelson reveals how FDR confronted an American public disinterested in going to war in Europe, skillfully won their support, and pushed government and American industry to build the greatest war machine in history, "the arsenal of democracy" that won World War II. As Nazi Germany began to conquer Europe, America's military was unprepared, too small, and poorly supplied. The Nazis were supported by robust...

"The first biography of arguably the most influential member of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's administration, Marguerite 'Missy' LeHand, FDR's de facto chief of staff, who has been misrepresented, mischaracterized, and overlooked throughout history...until now"-- "Journalist Smith (A Necessary War) grants readers an unusual insider's view of F.D.R.'s political career by profiling his longtime private secretary. Marguerite 'Missy' LeHand, a young woman...

"A gripping and groundbreaking account of how all but one of FDR's ambassadors in Europe misjudged Hitler and his intentions. As German tanks rolled toward Paris in late May 1940, the U.S. Ambassador to France, William Bullitt, was determined to stay put, holed up in the Chateau St. Firmin in Chantilly, his country residence. Bullitt told the president that he would neither evacuate the embassy nor his chateau, an eighteenth Renaissance manse with...

A dramatic, eye-opening account of how FDR took personal charge of the military direction of World War II. Based on years of archival research and interviews with the last surviving Roosevelt aides and family members, The Mantle of Command offers a radical new perspective on Franklin Delano Roosevelt's masterful-and underappreciated-leadership of the Allied war effort. After the disaster of Pearl Harbor, we see Roosevelt devising a global strategy...

Acclaimed biographer Smith combines contemporary scholarship and a broad range of primary source material to narrate the epic life of the president who, more than any other individual, changed the relationship between the American people and their government. We see how Roosevelt's energy, intellect, and personal magnetism permitted him to master countless challenges. Smith recounts FDR's battles with polio and physical disability, and how they helped...