The Roosevelts: An American Saga

The Roosevelts is a brilliant and controversial account of twentieth-century American political culture as seen through the lens of its preeminent political dynasty. Peter Collier shows how Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, along with their descendants, scrambled to define the direction that American politics would take. The Oyster Bay clan, influenced by the flamboyant Teddy, was extroverted, eccentric, tradition-bound, and family-oriented. They represented an age of American innocence that would be replaced by Franklin's Hyde Park Roosevelts, who were aloof and cold yet individualistic and progressive.

Drawing on extensive interviews and brimming with trenchant anecdotes, this historical portrait casts new light on the pivotal events and personalities that shaped the Roosevelt legacy — from Eleanor's often brutal relationship with her children and Theodore Jr.'s undoing in the 1924 New York gubernatorial race, to the heroism of Teddy's sons during both World Wars and FDR's loveless marriage.

The Roosevelts is history at its most penetrating, a crucial work that illuminates the foundations of contemporary, American politics.

In the first joint portrait of the Oyster Bay and Hyde Park Roosevelts, Collier and Horowitz explore in compelling, often startling detail the familial rivalries that influenced the private and public lives of presidents Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, their wives and children, and the political life of our nation. Photos.

The Roosevelts is a brilliant and controversial account of twentieth-century American political culture as seen through the lens of its preeminent political dynasty. Peter Collier shows how Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, along with their descendants, scrambled to define the direction that American politics would take. The Oyster Bay clan, influenced by the flamboyant Teddy, was extroverted, eccentric, tradition-bound, and family-oriented. They represented an age of American innocence that would be replaced by Franklin's Hyde Park Roosevelts, who were aloof and cold yet individualistic and progressive.

Drawing on extensive interviews and brimming with trenchant anecdotes, this historical portrait casts new light on the pivotal events and personalities that shaped the Roosevelt legacy — from Eleanor's often brutal relationship with her children and Theodore Jr.'s undoing in the 1924 New York gubernatorial race, to the heroism of Teddy's sons during both World Wars and FDR's loveless marriage.

The Roosevelts is history at its most penetrating, a crucial work that illuminates the foundations of contemporary, American politics.

Publishers Weekly

The authors portray this American dynasty as a family divided between Teddy's Oyster Bay clan and FDR's Hyde Park family. (June)

Peter Collier is the author, along with David Horowitz, of The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty, The Kennedys: An American Dream, The Fords: An American Epic, and Destructive Generation: Second Thoughts About the Sixties. He also wrote Downriver: A Novel and The Fondas: A Hollywood Dynasty. He lives in Nevada City, California.