Posted Wednesday morning, September 11, 2019.
Other day Mrs M and I took a drive across the river to Hyde Park for no special reason except to sit on the patio of the Henry Wallace Welcome Center at the FDR Library and Museum at look out at the grounds. There, we stopped in the gift store to buy postcards and browse the bookshelves. Came across this trio on display:
It was the middle book, “Winter War”, that focused my attention (although, unfortunately, not in focus by my camera. Sorry about that). The author, historian Eric Rauchway, is a longtime blogging and twitter acquaintance. His book “Murdering McKinley” is one of my favorite books on---not Wiliam McKinely---Theodore Roosevelt. Eric and I have never met in person, and I missed a chance to when he came to Hyde Park in July to give a talk and, apparently, sign copies of “Winter War”. Naturally, because this is what social media is good for, to bombard friends and relations with the trivial, I sent Eric the picture by Twitter, thinking he’d get a kick out of it. He did, but he has books to sell and he twittered back, “Git you a signed copy!” I had to apologize for already having a copy. But I promised to keep it in mind as a gift. I have a number of FDR fans on my birthday and holiday shopping lists. Sadly, though, the FDR fan for whom it would have made a perfect gift is gone.
Pop Mannion would have loved the book.
As I told Eric, Franklin Roosevelt was always Pop’s President. He came into the world the year our greatest president was first elected, and I suspect one of his last regrets was that he had to leave it with our worst still in the White House.
Pop Mannion and friends on a visit to Hyde Park in December 2010.
____________________________________________________________________________
“Winter War: Hoover, Roosevelt, and the First Clash Over the New Deal” by Eric Rauchway is available in hardcover and for kindle at Amazon.
There were two other books at the gift shop that would have made perfect gifts for Pop. “Roosevelt’s Centurians: FDR and the Commanders He Led to Victory in World War II” by Joseph E. Persico---I wouldn’t have bought this one for Pop. The author would have given him a signed copy. He and Persico were friends.---and the third volume of Nigel Hamilton’s “FDR War” trilogy, “War and Peace: FDR's Final Odyssey: D-Day to Yalta, 1943–1945.” I’m giving both to myself, though. Well, I’ve put both on reserve at the library. Both are available at Amazon or you could order them along with “Winter War” from the gift shop. I don’t make any money that way. Just FYI.
Comments