Reddit reviews FDR

This is an excellent book I picked up in 2009 or so: https://www.amazon.com/FDR-Jean-Edward-Smith/dp/0812970497/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522084397&sr=8-1&keywords=fdr

Read it and make your own decisions on who the man was.

There are controversies depending on who you talk to. I think the New Deal was a benefit to all of us and would eventually lead to the Eisenhower Interstate System. The federal highway act of 1944 was expanded upon by Eisenhower, a Republican, acting on a Democrat agenda. See how that worked back then?

The internment camps others are referring to have a history that's not pretty. The reason those camps started in the first place is that during the Japanese attack on Hawaii several Japanese ex-pats aided them and it created a ridiculous amount of fear, even in pre-social network days. What FDR did in that was wrong but there were also many under him that fed into that chain, that's the bad side of it.

If you want to know more about Ike, this is a GREAT bio on him: https://www.amazon.com/Eisenhower-Peace-Jean-Edward-Smith/dp/0812982886/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522084729&sr=1-5&keywords=eisenhower

I like biographies of famous people a lot.

Augustus, by Anthony Everitt: I find Augustus fascinating because his rise to power was one of the very very few examples in history where a Trio of teenagers defeated their enemies against overwhelming odds and succeeded creating an order lasting for more than two centuries. (The Principate stopped working after Septimius Severus took power in 193AD)

FDR, by Jean Edward Smith: FDR is simply my favorite US president.

Titan, The Life of John D. Rockefeller, by Ron Chernow: Rockefeller was born in a very poor family, never had an university education, and became a billionaire by the end of 19th century. Regardless how you view him today, his rise made an excellent story.

Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson: He was a jerk, but also a genius. His love/hate relationship with Bill Gates is story for the ages. This book also shines some good insight into the tech industry. I have to say this book helped me making lots of money in stocks.

Considering that /r/NoStupidQuestions readers are upvoting my points and downvoting the replies that imply FDR isn't well known suggests that they are smarter than you give them credit for.

He's very well known. In any easily-found online list or in popular opinion polls of the most famous, important, influential, or outstanding presidents, FDR is in the top 5. He's often in the top 3 along with Lincoln and Washington. He is the single most popular president among historians.

Throughout history, he has commonly been referred to by only his initials. Be it on newspapers, campaign buttons, street signs, books, TV programs, etc.

https://www.amazon.com/FDR-Jean-Edward-Smith/dp/0812970497

I too have a recent fascination with his presidency. Unfortunately, I asked this very sub if there were any recommendations, I received none. So I bought the one linked here to try for my self. It's good, I'm about 20% done and am really just getting into the political side of things. It deals a lot in the beginning with his upbringing, school, family, etc... (which is not what I was interested in). So if you want to get straight to the WW1 and WW2 stuff you might want to look for another.