Pulitzer Prize History Winner

Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom

by James MacGregor Burns

Summary

Burns follows Franklin Roosevelt through the years of the Second World War, portraying him as a wartime leader who balanced military strategy, domestic politics, and the demands of a global alliance. The book weighs Roosevelt's gifts as a commander against his failures and compromises, from grand strategy to the fate of refugees. It is the second volume of Burns's celebrated biography and a searching study of presidential power in crisis.

Historical Context & Significance

This second volume of James MacGregor Burns's Roosevelt biography won both the Pulitzer Prize for History and the National Book Award in 1971.