Picture a Republican president whose popularity plummets as the country undergoes an unmatched economic crisis, and – rightly or wrongly – he is harshly criticized for arrogantly ignoring that crisis. Then, a candidate who previously was considered an underdog wins the Democratic nomination, and then the presidency. This new president is put under suffocating scrutiny as he struggles to assemble a cabinet and implement myriad social programs that his critics decry as socialism.

Barack Obama is mentioned nowhere in Adam Cohen’s new book “Nothing to Fear,” but the timing couldn’t be more obvious. NTF, which focuses on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first hundred days in office (Herbert Hoover is the disdained predecessor, by the by), was released within days of our 44th president’s inauguration. Although he obviously started it years beforehand, no mention of Cohen’s book likely will omit the striking similarity to current events.

“Nothing to Fear” stands on its own, though. The narrative focuses on those Roosevelt appointed to his cabinet as he tried to implement the radical New Deal (a chapter of U.S. history undergoing staggering revisionism right now).

When I picked up “Nothing to Fear,” I had high hopes that it would follow the same motif as a book I read in October, Rick Perlstein’s “Nixonland.” After reading that stellar account of the turbulent 1960s/70s, I thought that it was ideal reading material for the month leading up to the presidential election. Sure, stores had tables sagging with books addressing the 2008 race specifically, but I found it surprisingly fitting to read about this other era, and its ironic parallels to our own. So, I thought that “Nothing to Fear” might be the ideal read as the nation sailed into an engaging new presidency.

Sadly, no.

It pains me to say it, but I did find “Nothing to Fear” a bit boring. While the narrative is peppered with some intriguing asides, I couldn’t help but think that the book as a whole would only yield charms to obsessive history geeks or those for whom an afternoon of CSPAN is captivating television. Especially after the excellent page-turner “Nixonland,” I found myself dutifully slogging through much of “Nothing to Fear.”

So, ample propers to Cohen for such a well-researched and -executed book, but the subject matter never really caught me. Some readers may be impressed. But beware, others may find what we really have to fear is boredom.

Buy Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America or Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America from Amazon.

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