Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Time has not been kind to Hendrik van Loon, notwithstanding that a number of his works have often been reprinted seventy and eighty years after he wrote them. Van Minnen has done a thoroughly-researched, intelligent rescue of flawed but brilliant teacher. The hatchet-job done by Van Loon's son, Gerard Willem, (The Life and Times of Hendrik Willem Van Loon, 1971, Lippincott) has been set right. While it may be a slight exaggeration to call Van Loon an "FDR Confidant" (Van Loon was never anywhere near FDR's inner circle), his influence was great. Van Minnen draws Van Loon, warts and all, in a clear and unbiased light. Van Loon was a worthy subject, who has found a sympathetic biographer.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Van Loon: Popular Historian, Journalist, and FDR Confidant (World of the Roosevelts)
This biography is an exciting and nuanced portrait of one of FDR's true and closest friends, a man deeply involved in American cultural life in the first half of the twentieth century.
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