Those Angry Days

Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight over World War II, 1939-1941 (2013) by Lynne Olson. A great history book, Those Angry Days covers the dispute between isolationists and interventionists after Hitler invaded Poland and before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. There was a surprisingly large number of Americans who favored peace at any price. Of course, they didn't have the benefit of hindsight, which we have. Charles Lindbergh was chief among the isolationists, mainly because he had been such a big hero to so many Americans after his ground-breaking solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927. This book gives a balanced look at both the isolationists and the interventionists, and presents an unflattering portrait of FDR and his dithering before the Japanese forced war upon us. To his credit, once the war was declared he was vigorous in prosecuting it. This was a very satisfying book to read, especially since I had just read The Last Lion, a book about Churchill from 1940 to 1965. Grade: B+