Doris Kearns Goodwin on Franklin D. Roosevelt

Character Above All #1

by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Robert A. Wilson (Editor)

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin leads off the groundbreaking new Character Above All audio series with an illuminating exploration of the subject of her landmark bestseller No Ordinary Time, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Recorded live at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin, Goodwin launches a series of lectures delivered by a team of historians, biographers, and journalists assembled by Robert Wilson to explore the Presidential character. Sharing their insight into the Presidents they have written about, these authors and scholars address the larger issue of the impact of the Presidential character on leadership and the creation of trust. A master historian speaking on the towering subject she knows best, Goodwin discusses Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the master politician who always waited for the right moment to convince people to go where he wished to take them. Character Above All is incomparable audio, crackling with the energy and excitement of a great mind at work and the intellectual urgency befitting a topic of lasting national importance.

Genres: History, Biography, Politics, Nonfiction

1 pages, Audio Cassette

First published March 1, 1996

About the author

Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin is an American biographer, historian, former sports journalist, and political commentator. She has written biographies of numerous U.S. presidents. Goodwin's book No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1995. Goodwin produced the American television miniseries Washington. She was also executive producer of "Abraham Lincoln", a 2022 docudrama on the History Channel. This latter series was based on Goodwin's Leadership in Turbulent Times.

Reviews

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly good--I watch a PBS miniseries involving Roosevelt recently and that piqued my interest. The way Kearn handles the affairs and emotional ties of both of the Roosevelts was straightforward if a bit reticent. I had also forgotten that Roosevelt was in office for so long because of the war. It is extraordinary that the press and public simply accepted his paralysis, the sexual peccadillos, and Eleanor Roosevelt's contribution to politics and issues. Well-done.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know why Goodreads lists each chapter of this book separately, but I read all of it, not just the chapter on FDR. Anyway, I really enjoyed it and learned so much about the presidents. I felt like some chapters required more historical knowledge then I had to fully understand them--especially the chapter on George bush. Overall, though it was a great read.