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lisabage's review against another edition
Well written and good research. Just got tired of it. Lots of bouncing around in time so kind of hard to follow.
dtab62's review against another edition
2.0
I've read Meltzer's other nonfiction books, so I presumed I knew what I was in for when I bought this one. Unfortunately, this was not the case for a couple of reasons. First is a cynical and transparent attempt to equate the Nazi party of the 1930s with the modern-day Republican party. The authors went so far as to quote Hitler as saying he wanted to "make Germany great again."
That was towards the beginning of the book. At the end they repeatedly talk about Roosevelt's final day, spent in Warm Springs, Georgia. They repeatedly say the president was there with "family and friends." What they fail to mention in a clear attempt to clean up Roosevelt's legacy is that while his son was there with him, his wife Eleanor was not. His mistress, however, was. Lucy Mercer was hustled out before Eleanor arrived to take her husband's body back to Washington.
The first issue could be overlooked. If you squint hard enough there is, I suppose, plausible deniability that the authors were attempting to compare the 21st-century GOP with the Nazi party. The same can't be said about the portrayal of Roosevelt's death. That's what made the book so disappointing to me. The pages between those passages contain Meltzer's usual pop history. But it's impossible not to wonder, given the misleading account of Roosevelt's final day, what else in the book is intentionally misleading. If you're reading a history book and don't trust the authors to give a true accounting, then you're wasting your time.
That was towards the beginning of the book. At the end they repeatedly talk about Roosevelt's final day, spent in Warm Springs, Georgia. They repeatedly say the president was there with "family and friends." What they fail to mention in a clear attempt to clean up Roosevelt's legacy is that while his son was there with him, his wife Eleanor was not. His mistress, however, was. Lucy Mercer was hustled out before Eleanor arrived to take her husband's body back to Washington.
The first issue could be overlooked. If you squint hard enough there is, I suppose, plausible deniability that the authors were attempting to compare the 21st-century GOP with the Nazi party. The same can't be said about the portrayal of Roosevelt's death. That's what made the book so disappointing to me. The pages between those passages contain Meltzer's usual pop history. But it's impossible not to wonder, given the misleading account of Roosevelt's final day, what else in the book is intentionally misleading. If you're reading a history book and don't trust the authors to give a true accounting, then you're wasting your time.
farmernate's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
kirstencholewa's review against another edition
informative
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Gun violence, Antisemitism, Murder, and War
Moderate: Suicide