Large-scale Presidential biographies are always a popular holiday gift. They give the recipient permission to spend long, leisurely hours reading, while providing education as well as entertainment. The best biographies are those that make the reader come away feeling that they know the subject almost as well as they know people in their own family. Traitor to his Class, H.W. Brands’ biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, accomplishes that level of intimacy. We see FDR as he begins his political career in New York local politics; we observe his courtship and marriage to Eleanor, and we stand with him as he battles polio.

The bulk of this book is given to FDR’s presidential years, and details how Roosevelt led the country through the Great Depression and World War II. As the United States comes to grips with the current financial crisis, this book has a timeliness and relevancy that make this a gift that has value beyond the hours spent reading.

Traitor to His Class by H.W. Brands
ISBN: 978-0-385-51958-8, $35.00