The Emmy and Peabody Award–winning director of such PBS documentaries as The Civil War, Ken Burns once again teamed up with historian Geoffrey Ward—whose biography of Franklin Roosevelt won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Francis Parkman Prize—to produce the remarkable 14-hour series The Roosevelts: An Intimate History. This companion volume to the program is an engaging, revelatory look at a great political family and their enormous impact on our nation, richly illustrated with nearly 800 photos. Yet it is primarily a book about three human beings, Theodore, Eleanor, and Franklin, each of whom overcame obstacles that would have undone less forceful personalities.

"Impressively thorough.... Starting with Teddy's asthma-plagued youth and ending with Eleanor's death in 1962, every aspect of their lives and legacies is touched upon. Hundreds of photos, newspaper clippings, and accompanying captions flesh out the story, which expands to cover their friends and family, enemies, and (alleged) lovers.... Ward and Burns strike the perfect balance between information and entertainment, keeping the tone casual yet authoritative ... [in a] perfect coffee table book treatment."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)