Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945

A 14-biography of Theodore, Eleanor and Franklin Delano starts Sunday. Actors including Paul Giamatti and Meryl Streep put on Emmy-worthy vocal performances reading from an Emmy-worthy script.

In The Man He Became, historian James Tobin says, despite misimpressions to the contrary, Americans of Franklin Roosevelt's day were well-aware of his disability — it was an important part of the personal narrative that helped him win the presidency.

The Roosevelts' unorthodox marriage was equitable, sexually open — and spanned four decades. Hazel Rowley profiles the uncommon union of a four-term president and his first lady in Franklin And Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage.

In 1937, frustrated by a conservative Supreme Court that struck down a series of his New Deal programs, President Franklin Roosevelt set about to reform the court — by expanding it and adding as many as six liberal justices. The controversial proposition is examined in writer Jeff Shesol's new book, Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court.

Author Timothy Egan argues in The Big Burn that the forest fire of 1910 — the largest in American history — actually saved the forests, even as its flames charred the trees. It helped rally public support, Egan explains, behind Theodore Roosevelt's push to protect national lands.

Kirstin Downey's biography of FDR's Labor Secretary Frances Perkins paints an inspiring and substantive portrait of the woman who ushered in the 40-hour work week.

Presidential historian Michael Beschloss. His new book is The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941-1945 (Simon & Schuster). In the book he reveals new information on how the Allies won World War II and the efforts behind the scenes of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin to ensure that post-war Germany would never produce another Hitler. Beschloss researched newly opened American, British and Soviet archives for the book.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews No Ordinary Time (Simon and Schuster) by Doris Kearns Goodwin and Babe (University of Illinois Press) by Susan E. Cayleff.

Blanche Wiesen Cook is the author of the new biography "Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume 2 1933-1938. (Viking) This edition covers The Great Depression, the New Deal, and the build-up to World War II. Cook a professor of history at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She is author of "Eleanor Roosevelt," "Crystal Eastman on Women and Revolution," and "The Declassified Eisenhower."