A New York Times Notable Book • A prizewinning author and journalist untangles the narrative threads of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s final months, showing how he juggled the strategic, political, and personal choices he faced as the war, his presidency, and his life raced in tandem to their climax.

"A gripping, deeply human account... Moving, elegiac." —The New York Times Book Review

The story has been told piecemeal but never like this, with a close focus on Roosevelt himself and his hopes for a stable international order after the war, and how these led him into a prolonged courtship of Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator, involving secret, arduous journeys to Tehran and the Crimea. In between, as the war entered its final phase, came the thunderbolt of a dire medical diagnosis, raising urgent questions about the ability of the longest-serving president to stand for a fourth term at a time when he had little choice. Neither his family nor top figures in his administration were informed of his diagnosis, let alone the public or his closest ally, Winston Churchill. With D-Day looming, Roosevelt took a month off on a plantation in the south where he was examined daily by a navy cardiologist, then waited two more months before finally announcing, on the eve of his party’s convention, that he’d be a candidate. A political grand master still, he manipulated the selection of a new running mate, with an eye to a possible succession, displaying some of his old vigor and wit in a winning campaign.

With precision and compassion, Joseph Lelyveld examines the choices Roosevelt faced, shining new light on his state of mind, preoccupations, and motives, both as leader of the wartime alliance and in his personal life. Confronting his own mortality, Roosevelt operated in the belief that he had a duty to see the war through to the end, telling himself he could always resign if he found he couldn’t carry on.

Lelyveld delivers an incisive portrait of this deliberately inscrutable man, a consummate leader to the very last. 

A New York Times Notable Book
One of the Best Books of the Year: Foreign Affairs, Bloomberg

In March 1944, as World War II raged and America's next presidential election loomed, Franklin D. Roosevelt was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Driven by a belief that he had a duty to see the war through to the end, Roosevelt concealed his failing health and sought a fourth term-a term that he knew he might not live to complete. With unparalleled insight and deep compassion, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Joseph Lelyveld delves into Roosevelt's thoughts, preoccupations, and motives during his last sixteen months, which saw the highly secretive Manhattan Project, the roar of D-Day, the landmark Yalta Conference and FDR's hopes for a new world order-all as the war, his presidency, and his life raced in tandem to their climax. His Final Battle delivers an extraordinary portrait of this famously inscrutable man, who was full of contradictions but a consummate leader to the very last.

“A gripping, deeply human account. . . . Moving, elegiac.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Gripping . . . will substantially deepen readers’ understanding of a critical time in U.S. history.” —Foreign Affairs

“Splendid and richly detailed.” —The New York Review of Books
 
“Masterfully told. . . . A heroic and poignant picture.” —The Boston Globe

“A compellingly nuanced, almost day-by-day account of the great man’s final year of life.” —Time

“A careful, somber and sometimes harrowing account of FDR’s last sixteen months. . . . [Lelyveld’s] full and disciplined investigation of an important theme makes a significant contribution to FDR scholarship.” —The Wall Street Journal

“A pitch-perfect blend of meticulous reporting, careful analysis, and deep humanity. For all that has been written about Roosevelt, this deeply-moving book adds significantly to our understanding of that remarkable man.” —Gay Talese 

“Required reading for anyone who wants to understand the twentieth century’s most consequential—and most mysterious—president.” —Geoffrey C. Ward, author of The Roosevelts: An Intimate History

“Powerful . . . Lelyveld’s account of the last months of a 20th century colossus is great history. . . . If you think you knew FDR, think again—Joe Lelyveld brings him to fresh life, in all his human dimensions.” —Timothy Egan, author of The Worst Hard Time

“A spellbinding example of the biographer’s craft. . . . An unparalleled historical narrative of the last year of the war and the dramatic story of a singular man.” —David Nasaw, author of The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy

“Important. . . . Impressive. . . . Full of illuminating revelations.” —The Washington Times

“Lelyveld’s storytelling skill, his investigative thoroughness and his total dedication to historical fact remain evident throughout. . . . Intense and substantive.” —The Buffalo News

“A masterpiece, in dramatic prose, combining deep research, subtle imagination, and ingenious speculation. . . . Hard to put down and impossible to forget.” —Fritz Stern, author of Five Germanys I Have Known

“A beautifully-realized, impossible to put down chronicle making fresh connections that deepen understanding of FDR’s closing confrontations with crises of health and global leadership.” —Ira I. Katznelson, author of Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time

“Rarely has Franklin Delano Roosevelt been portrayed with such steely-eyed insight. . . . A deeply revealing look at a famously enigmatic president. . . . A masterful study of a masterful politician, a fresh look at one of the most beloved and complex of presidents.” —BookPage

“An elegant, affecting work that offers fresh insights on a much-mythologized president.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred)

“Gripping. . . . Shows that there is much left to say about F.D.R. . . . a solid work of narrative history.” —Publishers Weekly