The Politics of Upheaval

In the third volume of his series on Franklin Roosevelt, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian focuses on the turbulent final years of FDR's first term.

A measure of economic recovery revived political conflict and emboldened Roosevelt's critics to denounce "that man in the White house." To his left were demagogues--Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and Dr. Townsend. To his right were the champions of the old order--ex-president Herbert Hoover, the American Liberty League,...
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In the third volume of his series on Franklin Roosevelt, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian focuses on the turbulent final years of FDR's first term.

A measure of economic recovery revived political conflict and emboldened Roosevelt's critics to denounce "that man in the White house." To his left were demagogues--Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and Dr. Townsend. To his right were the champions of the old order--ex-president Herbert Hoover, the American Liberty League, and the august Supreme Court. For a time, the New Deal seemed to lose its momentum. But in 1935 FDR rallied and produced a legislative record even more impressive than the Hundred Days of 1933--a set of statutes that transformed the social and economic landscape of American life. In 1936 FDR coasted to reelection on a landslide. Schlesinger has his usual touch with colorful personalities and draws a warmly sympathetic portrait of Alf M. Landon, the Republican candidate of 1936.

"One of the most important historical enterprises of our time."--Saturday Review