Those Angry Days

Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941

By: Lynne Olson

Narrated by: Robert Fass

At the center of the debate over American intervention in World War II 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.

©2013 Lynne Olson (P)2013 Tantor

Informative, Unexpected, and Interesting

Where does Those Angry Days rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I've listened to several non-fiction, historical works on audio over the years. This is in my top five, mostly for the depth of information presented without getting lost in minutia. The reader's performance (Robert Fass) is solid enough and does not distract from the information which is the real star here.

What other book might you compare Those Angry Days to and why?

In many respects, this book reminded me of The Zimmerman Telegram. Not in content or historical period of course. Those Angry Days is about the late 1930s, The Zimmerman Telegram about World War I. What makes me compare them is the depth of information I didn't know.

I'm both a student and professor of history. I've done quite a bit of study and research into the periods in both books, and they both offered up to me quite a bit of information I did not know. Those Angry Days did so even more than I could have expected. It dashed quite a few of my cherished "beliefs" about the period running up to America's involvement in World War II, especially regarding FDR's conduct and attitude.

New information is refreshing.
New information presented well is outstanding!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

At this length, hardly! But, that's not a bad thing. This is a book to be savored, not sprinted through. It's not a page-turner in the knuckle-biting suspense or action genre--it's a historical treatise, packed with information and insight. It's a book to be studied not plowed through.

A world at odds with itself is nothing new.

As we ponder the complicated challenges of a modern world, it serves us well to remember the nature of man. The rifts in our social fabric. The acrimonious debate that so tear at us today. The desire to cancel those we disagree with. These challenges, that so many believe form a new experience for mankind, are but a cycle repeated since the beginning of history. Perhaps, in our struggle to make sense of it all, some salve can be taken in the knowledge that we are not the first to go through these things. Some lessons, at least, can be taken from our consideration of the people and events that preceded us. I find compelling the themes of hero’s who are far from perfect but ultimately contributed more than they took from the world around them. They’re a reminder that life is rarely so simple as our simple and convenient judgments would have us believe. I’ve been a lifetime follower of the exploits of Charles Lindbergh. The world had no idea when he was first assigned the moniker “Lone Eagle” how fitting that name would become for him on multiple levels til the end of his life. FDR is a personality less known to me but like Lindbergh, his life was complex to a degree few comprehend. A great read. A deep dive into a debate that permanently changed our world and whose echoes deserve our attention to this day.

Superb!

Lynne Olsen is an extraordinary historian who lifts you into the moment she is revealing.

Fascinating Period of History that Was Eclipsed by the War

Olson’s book describes a slice of American history I knew little about. My parents lived through WW2 (my father served) so I knew about the war years— the unity to defeat the Axis powers, mass enlistment, the war mobilization, etc. My grandfather’s business closed because he lost his workers to the service and Willow Run bomber factory. I did not know about the fierce dissension over intervention or isolation that took place before the Bombing of Pearl Harbor. I can’t ask my parents and grandparents now, but Lynne Olson did an excellent job detailing this period. She describes Roosevelt as extremely political and apprehensive following his court packing fiasco. Wendall Wilkie comes across as a great American patriot. The most interesting details concerned the pre-war weakness of the military and the America First movement which included such early members as Kingman Booster and Gerald Ford. The Lindbergh’s and their strange history is accounted for in great detail. I was intrigued throughout, but then I really enjoyed the detail. Also— superb narration!

History unfolding

Olson shares with the reader the personalities , the motives, and the drive each of the men who interacted with FDR to achieve their goals. Coupled with reading citizens of London, one goes away with a great onsite of the years before the U.S. Entered WW II.