Metropolitan Library System

"Paul Alexander was a normal, vibrant and active child until he was paralyzed by polio in Dallas, Texas at 6 years of age. Five days after contracting the disease he was unable to voluntarily move, or even breath[e], he has miraculously survived, established a law practice and is living a full life. He has lived with critical assistance of an "iron lung" for over 67 years. With profound love and constant encouragement from his supportive family and...

"In popular memory, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the quintessential political "natural." Born in 1882 to a wealthy, influential family and blessed with charisma, he seemed destined for high office from birth. Yet for all his gifts, the young Roosevelt nonetheless lacked depth, empathy, and strategic ability. Those qualities, so essential to his success as president, were skills he acquired during his eight-year struggle through illness and recovery....

When polio paralyzed Franklin Roosevelt at the age of thirty-nine, people wept to think that the young man of golden promise must live out his days as a helpless invalid. He never again walked on his own. But in just over a decade, he regained his strength and seized the presidency. This was the most remarkable comeback in the history of American politics. And, as author James Tobin shows, it was the pivot of Roosevelt's life-the triumphant struggle...