NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this “beautifully written and superbly researched dual biography” ( Los Angeles Times Book Review ), Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer Jon Meacham “paints a powerful portrait of the enormous friendship between World War II allies [Franklin] Roosevelt and [Winston] Churchill” ( Vanity Fair ).   “Intense and compelling reading.”— The Washington Post Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were the greatest leaders of “the Greatest Generation.” In Franklin and Winston, Jon Meacham explores the fascinating relationship between the two men who piloted the free world to victory in World War II.  Born in the nineteenth century and molders of the twentieth and twenty-first, Roosevelt and Churchill had much in common. In their own time both men were underestimated, dismissed as arrogant, and faced skeptics in their own nations—yet both magnificently rose to the central challenges of the twentieth century. Theirs was a kind of love story, with an emotional Churchill courting an elusive Roosevelt. The British prime minister, who rallied his nation in its darkest hour, standing alone against Adolf Hitler, was always somewhat insecure about his place in FDR’s affections—which was the way Roosevelt wanted it. A man of secrets, FDR liked to keep people off balance, including his wife, Eleanor, his White House aides—and Winston Churchill. Meacham’s sources—including unpublished letters of FDR’ s great secret love, Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, the papers of Pamela Churchill Harriman, and interviews with people who were in FDR and Churchill’s joint company—shed light on the characters of both men as he engagingly chronicles the hours in which they decided the course of the struggle. Charting the personal drama behind the discussions of strategy and statecraft, Meacham has written the definitive account of the most remarkable friendship of the modern age. After their first meeting, in 1918, Roosevelt said that Churchill was "a stinker" Churchill didn't even remember Roosevelt. But by their next exchange, in 1939, Churchill was convinced that Britain's future depended on getting Roosevelt to like him. Meacham's engaging account argues that personal bonds between leaders are crucial to international politics. He draws heavily on diaries and letters to describe a complicated courtship and, at times, seems amazed at what Winston is willing to put up with from Franklin. Churchill paints a landscape for the President, sings for him, and agonizes when his notes go unanswered; Roosevelt teases him in front of Stalin, criticizes him to reporters, and eventually breaks his heart with a diverging vision of the postwar world. But Churchill never gives up, and he later recalled, "No lover ever studied the whims of his mistress as I did those of President Roosevelt." Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker “Colorful anecdotes . . . populate virtually every page of Franklin and Winston, Jon Meacham’s beautifully written and superbly researched dual biography. . . . Though the basic story line of Franklin and Winston is familiar, this is not recycled history. Meacham, in fact, conducted original interviews with the few living staffers who saw both leaders in action and unearthed fascinating revelations from the papers of Churchill’s wartime daughter-in-law and later grande dame of the Democratic Leadership Council, Pamela Churchill Harriman. He also draws sprightly vignettes of the 113 days Roosevelt and Churchill spent together swapping strategies over cocktails and cigars.” — Los Angeles Times Book Review “Meacham’s engaging account argues that personal bonds between leaders are crucial to international politics.” — The New Yorker “[Meacham] uses several previously unavailable sources, including the World War II papers of Pamela Churchill Harriman, then married to Churchill’s son, Randolph, and he interviewed a number of those still living who spent time in the two men’s company. Written with grace and conviction, his portrait of this epic friendship focuses on the elements of character and fortitude that bonded these two leaders together, and ‘proves it does matter who is in power at critical points.’” — The New York Times Book Review “Jon Meacham paints a powerful portrait of the enormous friendship between World War II allies Roosevelt and Churchill.” — Vanity Fair “A masterful portrayal of what was often a deeply (and, I think, necessarily) imperfect friendship. . . . Meacham does a marvelous job showing how the Churchill-Roosevelt relationship developed.” — The New York Sun “[Meacham] seems the likely successor to David McCullough. . . . He has produced one of the finest historical books of modern times. Like McCullough, he knows how to make history come alive.” — Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City) “This is at once an important, insightful, and highly entertaining portrait of two men at the peak of their powers who, through their genius, common will, and uncommon friendship, s