Rating: 
Summary: Insider's View - quick, easily readable
Review: About halfway through this book, one wonders how FDR and Truman came to be "the conquerors," given the tremendous uncertainty and infighting at the very tops of their administrations. Beschloss writes much of this story through the eyes of Henry Morgenthau, Jr., FDR's friend and Secretary of the Treasury throughout his four administrations. In fact, page after page is full of conversational, direct quotes that Beschloss was able to glean from newly-opened archives and Morgenthau's extensive notes. FDR's management-style was idiosyncratic, to say the least - letting his aides consume much of their energy butting heads so that he could squeeze the best ideas out of them. While this may have worked when he was healthy, by his fourth term he was dying, his mind was failing, and this free-wheeling management style created a series of public embarrassments and severe headaches for his subordinates. Upon FDR's death, Truman inherited this Rube Goldberg machine and, in Beschloss's narrative, quickly, snappily whips it into shape, so effectively that even the grieving Morgenthau was relieved to have a man at the top who could establish order among his men (which included firing the Treasury Secretary within months!). In addition to Morgenthau's fight to alert FDR of the 'holocaust,'despite the high-level of anti-Semitism in America at that time, Truman's stepping up to the plate (when he was never briefed by FDR on the war, didn't know there was an a-bomb in the works, and never knew the White House had a Map Room) is also heroic in this account. This is a good, popular history with blow-by-blow, readable accounts of the Quebec, Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam conferences.
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Summary: Interesting Account of Deciding Post-War Germany
Review: This book details the debate in the FDR administration towards the end of WW2 about how to treat conquered Germany and what type of assistance, if any, should be provided the Germans to rebuild their shattered land. The debate raged not only within the administration but also with our allies, Churchill and Stalin, over whether or not Germany should be broken up into several small nation-states, turned into an agrarian society, or given supportive economic assistance. Secretary of War Henry Stimson, ironically the most supportive towards Germany, was hell-bent to avoid policies that recreated the socio/economic situation that led to the rise of Hitler after the failed Versailles Treaty. Much of the book is based on conversations from FDR's Treasury Secretary, Henry Morgenthau, due to the fact that he recorded all his conversations and meetings, and thus may be faulted for relying too much on a single source. However, this does not detract significantly from the overall work. I found the account fascinating on several levels. One, it illustrates how the various plans (such as the infamous Morgenthau Plan) to decide the fate of Germany were formulated (not as well thought out as one might think). Two, it portrays FDR as a very egotistical man, playing his Cabinet members against each other, and making up foreign policy on the fly. Finally, it shows the incredible amount of anti-Semitism present at the time throughout all levels of American society, from President Truman down to the average citizen. The book is a quick, interesting read (it even details possible Soviet espionage in Morgenthau's Treasury Dept!) and for those interested in the topic, it should be quite enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: The re-formulation of Nazi Germany
Review: The Conquerors was a fairly interesting and revealing account of the behind closed doors negotiations among the Allied powers as to the disposition of Nazi Germany after their imminent defeat in World War 2. The major Allied power brokers consisted of Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Franklin D. Roosevelt and their administrations. Obviously, the slant of Beschloss's account is taken from the standpoint of the Americans. It was determined that Germany should be reconstituted in a manner whereby they would no longer be able to travel down the path of global domination. At the same time conditions shouldn't be so severe, like in the Treaty of Versailles, as to create a climate which gave rise to Adolf Hitler. The most revealing aspect of the book was the amount of discord between the members of FDR's cabinet. FDR, who was portrayed as an ineffective administrator reveled in pitting members of his cabinet against each other. Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Secretary of War Henry Stimson were more moderate in their views than Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau. Morgenthau, who had FDR's ear, was a non practicing Jew. He was made aware of the horrors of the Holocaust and tried to influence FDR to take measures to stop it. His idea of post war Germany known as the Morgenthau Plan would turn the whole country into farmland destroying all industry. The problem was that his would render Germany helpless to act as a buffer against the Soviets and the spread of Communism. The account of this period of history made it seem that the death of FDR was fortuitous, in that Truman was much more assertive in his decision making than the waffling FDR. The book also brings into question the motivation of FDR's failure to act upon his receipt of information concerning the Holocaust.
Rating: 
Summary: the authors could have made this book in 10 pages
Review: I know this author is supposed to be awesome and I am sure he is. BUT This book was more about Henry Morgenthau and his plan with what to do with Germany after WW2. I did't know that the allied partners were on the fence with what to do Germany after the war. Russia wanted it dismantled. But some were worried that if Germany wasn't allowed to stay strong then there would be no one to confront Russia if Russia wanted to take over Europe. That part of the book was interesting but he could have stopped there. This book was a waste of my time. The book was more about Morgenthau who i despised. So imagine reading a book about a charachter that you don't like and is boring as all get out.
Rating: 
Summary: henry morgentheau - not "the conquerors"
Review: Mr. Beschloss put this book on the shelf for 10 years for a reason: it is incomplete. In the end, I found myself cheated because it is cleary an account from Henry Morgentheau's ( then secretary of the treasury) perspective in dealing with Roosevelt. It is as if Michael Beschloss ran into Henry Morgentheau II ( who is quoted frequently in the book) and got all his dad's notes.
Truman is a footnote in the last few chapters. The chapters on the attempt to assassinate hitler by his own people was misplaced and didn't support the title of the book.
It was an easy and entertaining read, yet I felt cheated at the end.
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Summary: Bio of Henry Morganthau
Review: This book is not about The Conquerors. It is the wartime biography of Henry Morganthau, Roosevelts Secretary of the Treasury. The primary source for the book appears be Morganthau who comes off as playing petty politics. The perspective provided in the book is also Morganthau's. Where is Stimson, Marshall, Eisenhower and Truman? The most interesting parts describe Roosevelts poor skills as an administrator; how much his illness affected his administration and the way he played his cabinet members off of one another.
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Summary: Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover
Review: In his book, The Conquerors, Michael Beschloss, media-historian, has produced an inviting and commercialized version of American policy making at the moment of Allied victory over Nazism. Roosevelt's Dutchess County neighbor and Treasury Secretary, Henry Morgenthau, is the central figure in this many-chaptered, trim account. While the cover jacket depicts confident images of Roosevelt and Truman, the book might have been better titled, Morgenthau's Folly. Roosevelt and Truman are secondary actors in this page-turning chronicle. As the author meticulously relates, Morgenthau was a belated advocate of Jewish interests. He sought a cold-fisted, post-war policy of de-industrialization of Germany. The bulk of the narrative recounts the policy dance surrounding Morgenthau's pleadings. The author's treatment, while nicely footnoted, is not without the common warts of popular histories. At one point (page 167), Beschloss gives fresh currency to an old rumor about Harry Hopkins without shedding light on its authenticity. For readers interested in Second World War policy brawls, the book may be a curious delight.
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Summary: The Right Approach: Luck or Design?
Review: An unusually well researched and documented history. The author makes the case that the US decisions on the reconstruction of postwar Germany were exactly right, but leaves unanswered the intriguing question as to how much of this was the result of luck and how much the result of design. He also makes a strong case that policy makers should always be prepared to reconsider their predetermined plans and assumptions and adjust them as the actual facts warrant. As others have noted the title is misleading because it is really an account of the failed Morgenthau Plan to turn postwar Germany into an agrarian state. The book itself is also at odds with the author's concluding chapter. For example, the hero on the book is neither Roosevelt nor Truman, but rather Roosevelt's Secretary of Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, Jr. Beschloss is sympathetic to Morgenthau and the rationale behind his plan, but ultimately concludes that the Morgenthau Plan, if implemented, would have been disastrous for Germany and the West. In other words, even though Morgenthau's adversaries, principally Stimson and McCoy, underestimated the depth of Nazi evil, they turned out to be correct about the need to reconstruct Germany as an industrial state in order to offset Soviet plans of aggrandizement. In his concluding chapter, while acknowledging that Roosevelt's leadership on reconstructing postwar Germany was "scarcely impeccable," Beschloss nonetheless concludes this flaw is "overshadowed by the greatness in Roosevelt's leadership" in the years leading up to the US entry into World War II. But Beschloss' portrait of the FDR who presided in the White House during the period covered by the book (principally the last 18 months of his life), is one a sick, old man, unable to concentrate of matters of state, who had no business completing his third term, let alone running for a fourth. It is not at all clear from Beschloss account whether in fact Roosevelt would have adopted the policies ultimately implemented by Truman when he gave his full support to the Marshall Plan. And Harry Truman, whose instincts on the postwar world, Beschloss agrees were sound, is described as one whose "private, petty anti-Semitic comments did not abate for even a moment." Yet such is the power of Beschloss's work and sourcing, that I found it difficult to quarrel with either his analysis of the events covered by his book or his somewhat contradictory conclusions. Most historians agree that Roosevelt's selection of Truman as vice-president in 1944 was unpredictable and that Truman was one of the least qualified people ever to assume the presidency. Did the US and the world luck out or did FDR know something about Truman's character that escaped other contemporary observers?
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Summary: New Insights Explain FDR¿s Holocaust Silence
Review: This narrative allows us to eavesdrop on the WWII conversations and telephone calls of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman as they privately fought with Churchill and Stalin to ensure Germany would never again threaten the world. Drawing on newly opened American, Soviet and British documents as well as private letters, dairies and recordings, Michael Beschloff, who is called by Newsweek Magazine, "the nation's leading Presidential historian," shines new light on what Roosevelt knew about Hitler's war against the Jews. Beschloff says Roosevelt began receiving information as early as 1942 that Hitler was carrying out his threats to "annihilate the Jewish Race." Yet the American President made no attempt to publicize his findings. He was dedicated to the goal of unconditional surrender by Germany. Forced to deal with Churchill and Stalin to achieve this goal, he may also have feared that any complaint on his part may have spurred Hitler to complete his goal all the more quickly. In hindsight, this decision may seem harsh and insensitive to the Jews who suffered, yet it is the only credible explanation of Roosevelt's thinking I have found.
Rating:
Summary: The Conquerors
Review: Michael Beschloss did a great service by writing this book. It should be required reading in all American history classes for the youth of today to be able to read and see how a very sad part of the past had been handled and a leadership which has been glamourized and upheld almost to idolatry has been shown in a honest & searching writing. He not only has shown the deceits, the manipulations, and characteristics which we do not wish to see in our highest officials, but he has done so in a most gentlemanly and fair manner. Thanks to Michael Beschloss for the courage to have written about such powerful and idolized men during that period of history. He should be commended and thanked.
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