SuitabookNice work, Franklin!
Suzanne Tripp Jurmain
- Reading
- Read together in sections: pause at the shift from Roosevelt’s personal story to the Depression, and consider how the book links his actions to the country’s recovery.
- Themes
- Disability and perseverance: After polio leaves Roosevelt unable to walk, he undertakes physical therapy and pursues political office despite doubts about his fitness to serve. The biography frames rehabilitation and determination as central to Roosevelt’s path into public life.
- Responding to economic crisis: During the Great Depression, the book describes bank closures and job losses, followed by Roosevelt’s efforts to create jobs and restore business. The book presents this mainly as information or explanation.
- Worth knowing
- The book includes Roosevelt’s polio, his inability to walk and physical therapy, alongside bank closures and job losses during the Great Depression.