This short biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Roy Jenkins packs a good deal of information into its 173 pages. Very sadly Lord Jenkins died of a sudden heart attack before the book was finished. It was completed by his friend Richard E. Neustadt of Harvard University who took up the task from page 155.
I have read other, much
longer, biographies of FDR by American authors H. W. Brands and Jean Edward
Smith. Their books provide much more
background detail and scene-setting for FDR’s personal conflicts and political
battles. Despite their greater length
they are much easier to read being written in plain and straightforward
language. One has to have a dictionary
to hand when reading Lord Jenkins’ work.
However, I did add some words
to my vocabulary. Those listed below are
just some which had me reaching for my Collins.
Contumaciously
Eleemosynary
Riparian
Semi-Lacuna
Readers of this blog may
enjoy looking up the definitions.
Roy Jenkins’ Franklin Delano Roosevelt was first
published in 2003 by Times Books of New York.
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