This opening volume of Hamilton’s trilogy, which asserts that Roosevelt’s role during the Second World War has been underestimated, ranges from his meeting with Churchill in Placentia Bay on 9 August 1941 to the landing of US troops in North Africa in late 1942. During this period the president rejected calls to delegate decisions to military leaders, overcame an attempted ‘mutiny’, and demonstrated his talent for strategic thinking by devising a global plan to defeat Hitler.