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A Shadow Over the World

Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Rise of Fascism, and the Making of America's World War II

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A Shadow Over the World

By: William I Hitchcock
Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
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From New York Times bestselling author William I. Hitchcock, a riveting, revelatory portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the lead-up to World War II, tracing his—and America’s—awakening to the threat of fascism.

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 narrative is that they reacted with indifference and embraced isolationism. Only with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor were Americans reluctantly drawn into the global conflict. But distinguished historian William I. Hitchcock reveals a far more complex and surprising story.

From the time Mussolini came to power in 1922 to America’s entry into the war in 1941, Americans engaged in a fraught national debate over the rising threat—and for some, the lure—of fascism. At the center of this debate was Roosevelt himself. When he took office 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, 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 successful struggle against the dark forces of fascism holds powerful lessons for our own perilous times. Americas Politics & Activism Politics & Government Presidents & Heads of State United States Franklin D Roosevelt Imperialism War Soviet Union Imperial Japan Military Socialism Authoritarianism Roosevelt Family Latin American Self-Determination Russia Capitalism Interwar Period
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Critic reviews

"An unwilling and divided nation gradually comes together to face fascism at home and abroad."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Narrator Gary Tiedemann brings impact and immediacy to this panoramic history of the rapid rise of fascism in the 1930s and the United States' slow awakening to its dangers. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, facing the Depression and the country’s prevailing isolationism, is depicted as expedient and reluctant to act. America, too, had its own share of racists and ideologues. With calculated restraint, Tiedemann tracks a history of international aggression and American violence that is still shocking today. Hitchcock’s powerful narrative highlights a small number of journalists and diplomats who sounded early warnings and, like Roosevelt eventually did, rose to meet the challenges that fascism posed."
—Kirkus Reviews
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