Books: F.D.R. in Wartime

ROOSEVELT: THE SOLDIER OF FREEDOM by James MacGregor Burns. 722 pages. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. $10.

This book concludes a two-part biography begun 14 years ago with the publication of Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox, a brilliant, admiring portrait of F.D.R. The first book focused sharply on the peculiar combination of idealism, political instinct and guile that allowed F.D.R. to bend events to his will in the exciting days of the various New Deals. The Soldier of Freedom necessarily takes a broader world view with far less penetrating results. Huge chunks of the book...