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The Sphinx: Franklin Roosevelt, the Isolationists, and the Road to World War II
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The Sphinx: Franklin Roosevelt, the Isolationists, and the Road to World War II Hardback - 2014 - 1st Edition

by Nicholas Wapshott

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From the publisher

May 1938. Franklin Delano Roosevelt--recently reelected to a second term as president--sat in the Oval Office and contemplated two possibilities: the rule of fascism overseas, and a third term.

With Hitler's reach extending into Austria, and with the atrocities of World War I still fresh in the American memory, Roosevelt faced the question that would prove one of the most defining in American history: whether to once again go to war in Europe.

In The Sphinx, Nicholas Wapshott recounts how an ambitious and resilient Roosevelt--nicknamed "the Sphinx" for his cunning, cryptic rapport with the press--devised and doggedly pursued a strategy to sway the American people to abandon isolationism and take up the mantle of the world's most powerful nation.

Chief among Roosevelt's antagonists was his friend Joseph P. Kennedy, a stock market magnate and the patriarch of what was to become one of the nation's most storied dynasties. Kennedy's financial, political, and personal interests aligned him with a war-weary American public, and he counted among his isolationist allies no less than Walt Disney, William Randolph Hearst, and Henry Ford--prominent businessmen who believed America had no business in conflicts across the Atlantic.

The ensuing battle--waged with fiery rhetoric, agile diplomacy, media sabotage, and petty political antics--would land US troops in Europe within three years, secure Roosevelt's legacy, and set a standard for American military strategy for years to come.

With millions of lives--and a future paradigm of foreign intervention--hanging in the balance, The Sphinx captures a political giant at the height of his powers and an American identity crisis that continues to this day.

Details

  • Title The Sphinx: Franklin Roosevelt, the Isolationists, and the Road to World War II
  • Author Nicholas Wapshott
  • Binding Hardback
  • Edition number 1st
  • Edition 1
  • Pages 464
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher W. W. Norton & Company, U.S.A.
  • Publication date 2014-11
  • Features Bibliography, Dust Cover, Index, Price on Product - Canadian, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780393088885 / 039308888X
  • Weight 1.86 lbs (0.84 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.52 x 6.6 x 1.38 in (24.18 x 16.76 x 3.51 cm)
  • Themes
    • Aspects (Academic): Historical
    • Chronological Period: 1930's
    • Chronological Period: 1940's
    • Chronological Period: 20th Century
  • Category History - U.S.
  • Library of Congress subjects World War, 1939-1945 - Diplomatic history, United States - Foreign relations - 1933-1945
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2014031388
  • Dewey Decimal Code 973.917

Media reviews

Citations

  • Booklist, 11/15/2014, Page 13
  • Choice, 04/01/2015, Page 1390
  • Kirkus Reviews, 10/15/2014, Page 0
  • Library Journal, 10/15/2014, Page 107
  • Publishers Weekly, 10/06/2014, Page 0
  • Shelf Awareness, 11/25/2014, Page 0
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The Sphinx: Franklin Roosevelt, the Isolationists, and the Road to World War II
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