Franklin and Winston

An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship

By: Jon Meacham

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this “beautifully written and superbly researched dual biography” (Los Angeles Times Book Review), Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer Jon Meacham “paints a powerful portrait of the enormous friendship between World War II allies [Franklin] Roosevelt and [Winston] Churchill” (Vanity Fair).

“Intense and compelling reading.”—The Washington Post

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.

Born in the nineteenth century and molders of the twentieth and twenty-first, Roosevelt and Churchill had much in common. In their own time both men were underestimated, dismissed as arrogant, and faced skeptics 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.

Meacham’s sources—including unpublished letters of FDR’ s great secret love, Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, the papers of Pamela Churchill Harriman, and interviews with people who were in FDR and Churchill’s joint company—shed light on the characters of both men as he engagingly chronicles the hours in which they decided the course of the struggle.

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.

©2003 Jon Meacham (P)2003 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Jon Meacham's Franklin and Winston takes its place in the front ranks of all that has been written about these two great men." (Tom Brokaw)
"Jon Meacham brings [the relationship between FDR and Churchill] to vivid life, shedding new insights into its strange and poignant complexity, and why its legacy has helped shape the modern world." (Richard Holbrooke)

Great book. Well researched sets up a great time line.

If you like history you will love this book. Really gets into the personalities of two great men in history.

Fantastic History!

So damn great! I was right there with them throughout the whole book. I felt it all. Thank you .

Good book

Loved it. Highly recommended. Very interesting story with a history lesson as an added benefit.

Great personal history os one of history’s greatest partnerships.

From beginning to end this story captures your imagination of what it meant to lead the world through WWII. Roosevelt and Churchill had a very special chemistry that saved Europe and the world from Naziism.

And I thought Churchill was Complicated

Churchill appears to have been an open book in comparison to Roosevelt. Statesmanship and the Arts of Disception undermine the Roosevelt legacy.

Wonderful story of two great men

A reminder that while human, we are capable of great things in the cause of freedom, something we would do well to remember today. Highly recommended.

Wonderful stories well told

Loved the extra bits of history discovered and disclosed. Well
Written and spoken. Amazing men and amazing days

Splendid recounting of a special friendship

ì truly consumed this book...Jon Meacham 's style and the narrator made this book hard to pause

So much to learn

I am happy that I have this book. So much different than the history books

WWII through Churchill 's and FDR"s eyes

Extremely interesting. A great way to learn more about WWII. I will read more of Meacham.