Description
"How did FDR and the American public respond to the rise of dictators across Europe and Asia on the eve of World War II? The familiar story is that they reacted with indifference and embraced isolationism, and were only dragged in when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. But distinguished historian William Hitchcock reveals a far more complex and surprising reality. From the time Mussolini came to power in 1922 to America's entry into the war in 1941, Americans engaged in fraught national debate over the rising threat-and for some, the lure-of fascism. At the center of this debate was Roosevelt himself. At the start of his presidency in 1933, Roosevelt was determined to avoid foreign entanglements that would harm his ambitious domestic agenda of the New Deal. But over the course of his first two terms in office, a network of journalists, activists, advisers, and diplomats gradually awakened him to the global dangers of fascism. Roosevelt's transformation was part of a larger national reckoning with authoritarianism around the world. A Shadow Over the World shines a light on a time when a coalition of courageous humanists gathered around a visionary leader to forge a new purpose for America: to protect democracy, oppose imperialism, support human rights, and lead a global fight for freedom. Their fight laid the foundation for American engagement in the world-and a new international order that continues to shape the modern world"--
