First published 2010
Edmund Morris chronicles Theodore Roosevelt's extraordinary journey from 1858 to 1901, when an assassin's bullet thrust him into the presidency at age forty-two. Morris presents Roosevelt as seven distinct personas: naturalist, writer, lover, hunter, ranchman, soldier, and politician. The biography opens at Roosevelt's peak moment on New Year's Day 1907, when the Nobel Peace Prize winner greeted 8,150 visitors at the White House. Morris then traces how a frail, asthmatic child became a Harvard graduate who published naval history while leading Republican insurgents in the New York Assembly. Roosevelt chased criminals through North Dakota's Badlands carrying both Anna Karenina and a Winchester rifle. He married his childhood love, reformed civil service in Washington, prowled New York as a police commissioner, and nearly single-handedly triggered the Spanish-American War as assistant navy secretary. After charging up San Juan Hill with his Rough Riders, he returned a war hero and became New York's governor. Between these roles, he fathered six children and authored fourteen books. Morris argues that Roosevelt's seemingly random adventures actually prepared him for inevitable presidential leadership.
Genres: biography, historical, 20th-century, american, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: epic, historical-figure, rise-to-power
Setting: Badlands, New York, North Dakota, San Juan Hill, Washington
Period: 1858-1901, 1907, Spanish-American War, World War I
920 pages · Paperback · Random House