Rendezvous with Destiny by Michael Fullilove

JUDGES' COMMENTS

Michael Fullilove’s Rendezvous with Destiny is a clever, thoroughly researched and insightful account of the men recruited by Franklin D. Roosevelt to become special envoys, shaping the role of the United States in the Second World War. The approach of dealing with this important historical period is unique, bringing to life key figures and interweaving their personal histories with the broader role they played in world politics.

It is an ambitious book of an era that has been written on from almost every conceivable angle. Through providing well-rounded and compelling biographies of Roosevelt and his five special envoys – Sumner Welles, Bill Donovan, Harry Hopkins, Wendell Willke and Avril Harriman – the reader not only gets fascinating insights into the characters of these intriguing and significant historical figures, it is an innovative way of canvassing the events around the entry of the United States into a global conflict that many of their citizens thought they should stay out of. It says much for the way Roosevelt dealt with his own foreign affairs experts and formed his one opinions about the complex situation he was navigating.

Thoroughly researched, Fullilove avoids the pitfall of a too dense account of historical dates, facts and figures and instead delivers a book with the pace, characters and narrative arcs of an engaging and fascinating story of how Roosevelt employed a strategy of gauging the situation in Europe and negotiated his country’s entrance into it. Fullilove reminds us that it is great characters that make history. It also reminds us that great characters are ultimately one of the most essential elements in good writing.