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Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941 Hardcover – 20 April 2013
From the acclaimed author of Citizens of London comes the definitive account of the debate over American intervention in World War II&;a bitter, sometimes violent clash of personalities and ideas that divided the nation and ultimately determined the fate of the free world.
At the center of this controversy stood the two most famous men in America: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who championed the interventionist cause, and aviator Charles Lindbergh, who as unofficial leader and spokesman for America&;s isolationists emerged as the president&;s most formidable adversary. Their contest of wills personified the divisions within the country at large, and Lynne Olson makes masterly use of their dramatic personal stories to create a poignant and riveting narrative. While FDR, buffeted by political pressures on all sides, struggled to marshal public support for aid to Winston Churchill&;s Britain, Lindbergh saw his heroic reputation besmirched&;and his marriage thrown into turmoil&;by allegations that he was a Nazi sympathizer.
Spanning the years 1939 to 1941, Those Angry Days vividly re-creates the rancorous internal squabbles that gripped the United States in the period leading up to Pearl Harbor. After Germany vanquished most of Europe, America found itself torn between its traditional isolationism and the urgent need to come to the aid of Britain, the only country still battling Hitler. The conflict over intervention was, as FDR noted, &;a dirty fight,&; rife with chicanery and intrigue, and Those Angry Days recounts every bruising detail. In Washington, a group of high-ranking military officers, including the Air Force chief of staff, worked to sabotage FDR&;s pro-British policies. Roosevelt, meanwhile, authorized FBI wiretaps of Lindbergh and other opponents of intervention. At the same time, a covert British operation, approved by the president, spied on antiwar groups, dug up dirt on congressional isolationists, and planted propaganda in U.S. newspapers.
The stakes could not have been higher. The combatants were larger than life. With the immediacy of a great novel, Those Angry Days brilliantly recalls a time fraught with danger when the future of democracy and America&;s role in the world hung in the balance.
Praise for Those Angry Days
&;Powerfully [re-creates] this tenebrous era . . . Olson captures in spellbinding detail the key figures in the battle between the Roosevelt administration and the isolationist movement.&;&;The New York Times Book Review
&;Popular history at its most riveting . . . In Those Angry Days, journalist-turned-historian Lynne Olson captures [the] period in a fast-moving, highly readable narrative punctuated by high drama.&;&;Associated Press
- Print length592 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherRandom House Inc
- Publication date20 April 2013
- Dimensions16.41 x 3.63 x 24.26 cm
- ISBN-109781400069743
- ISBN-13978-1400069743
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Product details
- ASIN : 1400069742
- Publisher : Random House Inc (20 April 2013)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 592 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9781400069743
- ISBN-13 : 978-1400069743
- Dimensions : 16.41 x 3.63 x 24.26 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 295,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 1,214 in 20th Century U.S. History
- 4,974 in World History of World War II 1939-1945
- 14,711 in Government & Politics
- Customer reviews:
About the author

Lynne Olson is a New York Times bestselling author of nine books of history. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has called her “our era’s foremost chronicler of World War II politics and diplomacy.”
Lynne’s latest book, Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt’s Ancient Temples From Destruction, will be published by Random House in February 2023. Her earlier books include three New York Times bestsellers: Madame Fourcade’s Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France’s Largest Spy Network Against the Nazis; Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America’s Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941, and Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour.
Born in Hawaii, Lynne graduated magna cum laude from the University of Arizona. Before becoming a full-time author, she worked as a journalist for ten years, first with the Associated Press as a national feature writer in New York, a foreign correspondent in AP’s Moscow bureau, and a political reporter in Washington. She left the AP to join the Washington bureau of the Baltimore Sun, where she covered national politics and eventually the White House.
Lynne lives in Washington, DC with her husband, Stanley Cloud, with whom she co-authored two books. Visit Lynne Olson at http://lynneolson.com.
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