Franklin and Winston by Jon Meacham

This well researched book on the personal relationship between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill was hard to put down. The friendship, however, did not get off to an auspicious start.  In 1918 Churchill and Roosevelt met at a dinner at Gray’s Inn. Roosevelt that thought Churchill was “a Stinker” and Churchill didn’t remember Roosevelt at all. Both men were complex, vain, thoroughly political, but motivated by love of country and early on recognized the evil of Hitler and the Nazis. 

Meacham argues that personal bonds between leaders are crucial to international politics. Using diaries and letters to describe a complicated relationship. Churchill paints a landscape for the President, sings for him, and agonizes when his notes go unanswered; Roosevelt teases him in front of Stalin, criticizes him to reporters, and eventually develops a diverging vision of the postwar world. But Churchill never gives up. Their friendship lasted throughout the war until Roosevelt’s death shortly before the victory in Europe. An excellent book to learn about this remarkable pair of two of the twentieth century’s greatest men.