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Theodore Roosevelt #1
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time
Described by the Chicago Tribune as "a classic," The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt stands as one of the greatest biographies of our time. The publication of The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt on September 14th, 2001 marks the 100th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt becoming president.
Described by the Chicago Tribune as "a classic," The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt stands as one of the greatest biographies of our time. The publication of The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt on September 14th, 2001 marks the 100th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt becoming president.
816 pages, Paperback
First published March 30, 1979
About the author
Edmund Morris
75 books930 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.
Other authors with this name:
Edmund Morris (1804-1874)
Edmund Morris, actor, playwright, author of screenplays
Edmund Morris was a writer best known for his biographies of United States presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. Morris received his early education in Kenya after which he attended Rhodes University in South Africa. He worked as an advertising copywriter in London before emigrating to the United States in 1968.
His biography The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award in 1980. After spending 14 years as President Reagan's authorized biographer, he published the national bestseller Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan in 1999.
Morris's other books include Theodore Rex, the second in a projected three-volume chronicle of the life of Theodore Roosevelt, and Beethoven: The Universal Composer. Mr. Morris wrote extensively on travel and the arts for such publications as The New Yorker, the New York Times, and Harper's Magazine.
Edmund Morris lived in New York City and Kent, Connecticut with his wife and fellow biographer, Sylvia Jukes Morris.
Morris died on May 24, 2019 at a hospital in Kent, from a stroke at the age of 78.
Other authors with this name:
Edmund Morris (1804-1874)
Edmund Morris, actor, playwright, author of screenplays
Edmund Morris was a writer best known for his biographies of United States presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. Morris received his early education in Kenya after which he attended Rhodes University in South Africa. He worked as an advertising copywriter in London before emigrating to the United States in 1968.
His biography The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award in 1980. After spending 14 years as President Reagan's authorized biographer, he published the national bestseller Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan in 1999.
Morris's other books include Theodore Rex, the second in a projected three-volume chronicle of the life of Theodore Roosevelt, and Beethoven: The Universal Composer. Mr. Morris wrote extensively on travel and the arts for such publications as The New Yorker, the New York Times, and Harper's Magazine.
Edmund Morris lived in New York City and Kent, Connecticut with his wife and fellow biographer, Sylvia Jukes Morris.
Morris died on May 24, 2019 at a hospital in Kent, from a stroke at the age of 78.
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April 26, 2020
“[Theodore] Roosevelt found himself on a great flat rock, gazing out…across the whole of New York State. Rolling fog obscured everything but nearer grass and shrubs, yet the sense of being the highest man for hundreds of miles around, cherished by all instinctive climbers, was no doubt pleasing to him. As if in further reward, the clouds unexpectedly parted, sunshine poured down on his head, and for a few minutes a world of trees and mountains and sparkling water lay all around, stretching to infinity…Here, if ever, was an opportunity to look around him at all these lower hills, and to think of the hills that he had himself climbed in life. Pilatus as a boy; Katahdin as an underclassmen; Chestnut Hill as a young lover; the Matterhorn in the ecstasy of honeymoon; the Big Horns in Wyoming, with their bugling elks; the Capitol Hill in Albany, that freezing January night when he first entered politics; Sagamore Hill, his own fertile fortress, full of his children and crowned with triumphant antlers; the Hill in Washington where he twice laid out John Wanamaker; that lowest yet loftiest of hills in Cuba, where like King Olaf on Smalsor Horn he planted his shield…Would he ever rise any higher…?”
- Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
Everyone, it seems, loves Theodore Roosevelt. He did so many things, and was so many things, in his fully-lived life, that there's an aspect of his personality that anyone – of any political persuasion – can latch onto.
A conservationist can support his love of nature, and the creation of the National Park system; a sportsman can support the fact that Teddy would be more than willing to go into those National Parks and shoot (and stuff) any animal that crossed his path. Someone interested in social justice can support the fact that he was a reformer (a friend of Jacob Riis), while a law-and-order type can support the fact that he was tough on crime (he was the NYC Police Commissioner, after all). Democrats like that he was a trust buster; Republicans can get behind his muscular foreign policy. If you look – even if you have to squint – there is something for everyone.
Once, he even delivered a speech after getting shot, because of course he did.
In The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Edmund Morris gives us the first entry in a trilogy on the overstuffed existence of the 26th President of the United States. It begins with Teddy’s birth in 1858, as a tiny fail baby, and ends with his accidental ascension to the presidency in 1901, following the assassination of William McKinley. Between those dates are enough ups, downs, triumphs, tragedies, and adventures for a couple lives. It begs the question as to whether Teddy can be encapsulated in three books, even big ones (my revised and updated paperback edition has 780 pages of text).
Morris certainly gives it a pretty good try.
Teddy's defining principle is neatly summed up in his famous speech on citizenship in a republic, which he gave at the Sorbonne. Often referred to as “the Man in the Arena” speech, Roosevelt extolled the triumph of daring greatly. While the words have arguably been diluted through repetition, it is a certainty that Roosevelt believed them with all his heart.
Teddy Roosevelt started as a sickly, asthmatic boy who liked insects and taxidermy. Before he was fifteen, he'd traveled the world: Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land. Realizing his physical weakness, he embarked on an ambitious exercise regimen. He attended Harvard and liked to kill animals and stuff them, which I’m pretty sure is the definition of a renaissance man.
Morris chronicles all this and more in a way that places you into Theodore Roosevelt's life. Too many biographies maintain a certain formality that manifests itself as distance and lifelessness. These are works that seem content to tell you what happened, and in what order, and maybe even what it might have meant to the world. But few give you that sense of a living, breathing person, and the near-infinite nuances of character that entails.
At nearly 800 pages, Morris has the space to cover everything. Not just the obvious stuff, like the tragic death of Roosevelt's first wife, but the littler events that nevertheless shaped Teddy's life. For instance, Morris gets into the specifics of the rough-and-tumble world of New York politics, where Teddy started as a “political hack,” became an assemblyman, and eventually lost a bitter mayoral election. Somewhere in that span of years, he also found time to chase down some horse thieves outside his Dakota ranch (Morris helpfully provides a map of this escapade).
Surprisingly, one of Teddy's better-known exploits – his charges up Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill – are dealt with rather briefly. Which is not to say the passages weren't enjoyable, because they are. Morris is a vivid storyteller, up to the task of narrating his hero's journey.
Roosevelt won the Medal of Honor for his actions. Then he went back to America and became Governor of New York. And this was after he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy. It is all a bit exhausting.
With all these great deeds and derring-do, my favorite section of the book was on Roosevelt the writer. Morris does a commendable job analyzing Teddy's literary efforts, which include The Naval War of 1812, a biography on Thomas Hart Benton, and his mammoth project, The Winning of the West. It's fascinating to see how Teddy's writings foreshadowed his concept of America, which became important when he ascended to the presidency.
With any biography, there comes the question of bias, either pro or con. On the whole, I thought Morris’s treatment of Roosevelt was quite fair. Obviously, he loves the guy, but he avoids hyperbole and hagiography, and doesn’t get swept up in Roosevelt’s theatrics. This is no small feat, since Roosevelt was a skilled writer himself, and his stories got better with the telling. Morris does note some of Teddy's darker characteristics (such as questionable racial views), but he doesn't dwell long on them.
Morris started life as a writer, rather than a historian, and this is demonstrated with his craftsmanship. However, his literary flair occasionally got the better of him, such as his controversial decision to insert a fictional narrator in his authorized biography of Ronald Reagan. Morris – who died in May 2019 – does not attempt any such tricks here. While there are times he attempts to divine Teddy’s thoughts or feelings, this is a matter of fact-based interpretation, rather than wholesale creation. I’m not a Roosevelt expert by any means, but when I perused the endnotes, the sourcing looked top-notch (and the annotations rather enjoyable).
At this point, I have an admission: There’s always been something about Teddy Roosevelt that just bugs the hell out of me. This is not hate, by any means, but more of a low-key irritation. Partly, his contradictions are so extreme as to feel premediated. It is the epitome of trying too hard. At times, I wanted to scream: I get it! You like to herd cows while reading Tolstoy! You’ve made your point!. There is also too much of the moneyed dilettante about him, pugnaciously blustering on about how hard work achieves everything, never once recognizing that he was born into a life of privilege, wealth, country homes, and extended European holidays. In other words, while he’s telling people to pull themselves out of the bog, he ignores how he sprung into this world halfway up the ladder.
That said, it would have been easy for a man born of such privilege to rest on that privilege. He could have lived safe and comfortably, studying his bugs, reading his books, carefully treating his asthma. But that is not what he did. Instead, he lived a life in which he tried to experience the whole world, and in the process, changed it forever.
- Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
Everyone, it seems, loves Theodore Roosevelt. He did so many things, and was so many things, in his fully-lived life, that there's an aspect of his personality that anyone – of any political persuasion – can latch onto.
A conservationist can support his love of nature, and the creation of the National Park system; a sportsman can support the fact that Teddy would be more than willing to go into those National Parks and shoot (and stuff) any animal that crossed his path. Someone interested in social justice can support the fact that he was a reformer (a friend of Jacob Riis), while a law-and-order type can support the fact that he was tough on crime (he was the NYC Police Commissioner, after all). Democrats like that he was a trust buster; Republicans can get behind his muscular foreign policy. If you look – even if you have to squint – there is something for everyone.
Once, he even delivered a speech after getting shot, because of course he did.
In The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Edmund Morris gives us the first entry in a trilogy on the overstuffed existence of the 26th President of the United States. It begins with Teddy’s birth in 1858, as a tiny fail baby, and ends with his accidental ascension to the presidency in 1901, following the assassination of William McKinley. Between those dates are enough ups, downs, triumphs, tragedies, and adventures for a couple lives. It begs the question as to whether Teddy can be encapsulated in three books, even big ones (my revised and updated paperback edition has 780 pages of text).
Morris certainly gives it a pretty good try.
Teddy's defining principle is neatly summed up in his famous speech on citizenship in a republic, which he gave at the Sorbonne. Often referred to as “the Man in the Arena” speech, Roosevelt extolled the triumph of daring greatly. While the words have arguably been diluted through repetition, it is a certainty that Roosevelt believed them with all his heart.
Teddy Roosevelt started as a sickly, asthmatic boy who liked insects and taxidermy. Before he was fifteen, he'd traveled the world: Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land. Realizing his physical weakness, he embarked on an ambitious exercise regimen. He attended Harvard and liked to kill animals and stuff them, which I’m pretty sure is the definition of a renaissance man.
Morris chronicles all this and more in a way that places you into Theodore Roosevelt's life. Too many biographies maintain a certain formality that manifests itself as distance and lifelessness. These are works that seem content to tell you what happened, and in what order, and maybe even what it might have meant to the world. But few give you that sense of a living, breathing person, and the near-infinite nuances of character that entails.
At nearly 800 pages, Morris has the space to cover everything. Not just the obvious stuff, like the tragic death of Roosevelt's first wife, but the littler events that nevertheless shaped Teddy's life. For instance, Morris gets into the specifics of the rough-and-tumble world of New York politics, where Teddy started as a “political hack,” became an assemblyman, and eventually lost a bitter mayoral election. Somewhere in that span of years, he also found time to chase down some horse thieves outside his Dakota ranch (Morris helpfully provides a map of this escapade).
Surprisingly, one of Teddy's better-known exploits – his charges up Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill – are dealt with rather briefly. Which is not to say the passages weren't enjoyable, because they are. Morris is a vivid storyteller, up to the task of narrating his hero's journey.
Already [the hill:] was breathing fire at its crest, like a miniature volcano about to erupt, and spitting showers of Mausers. The bullets came whisking through the grass with vicious effectiveness as the Rough Riders crawled nearer. Every now and again a trooper would leap involuntarily into the air, then crumple into a nerveless heap. Roosevelt remained obstinately on horseback, determined to set an example of courage to his men.
Roosevelt won the Medal of Honor for his actions. Then he went back to America and became Governor of New York. And this was after he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy. It is all a bit exhausting.
With all these great deeds and derring-do, my favorite section of the book was on Roosevelt the writer. Morris does a commendable job analyzing Teddy's literary efforts, which include The Naval War of 1812, a biography on Thomas Hart Benton, and his mammoth project, The Winning of the West. It's fascinating to see how Teddy's writings foreshadowed his concept of America, which became important when he ascended to the presidency.
With any biography, there comes the question of bias, either pro or con. On the whole, I thought Morris’s treatment of Roosevelt was quite fair. Obviously, he loves the guy, but he avoids hyperbole and hagiography, and doesn’t get swept up in Roosevelt’s theatrics. This is no small feat, since Roosevelt was a skilled writer himself, and his stories got better with the telling. Morris does note some of Teddy's darker characteristics (such as questionable racial views), but he doesn't dwell long on them.
Morris started life as a writer, rather than a historian, and this is demonstrated with his craftsmanship. However, his literary flair occasionally got the better of him, such as his controversial decision to insert a fictional narrator in his authorized biography of Ronald Reagan. Morris – who died in May 2019 – does not attempt any such tricks here. While there are times he attempts to divine Teddy’s thoughts or feelings, this is a matter of fact-based interpretation, rather than wholesale creation. I’m not a Roosevelt expert by any means, but when I perused the endnotes, the sourcing looked top-notch (and the annotations rather enjoyable).
At this point, I have an admission: There’s always been something about Teddy Roosevelt that just bugs the hell out of me. This is not hate, by any means, but more of a low-key irritation. Partly, his contradictions are so extreme as to feel premediated. It is the epitome of trying too hard. At times, I wanted to scream: I get it! You like to herd cows while reading Tolstoy! You’ve made your point!. There is also too much of the moneyed dilettante about him, pugnaciously blustering on about how hard work achieves everything, never once recognizing that he was born into a life of privilege, wealth, country homes, and extended European holidays. In other words, while he’s telling people to pull themselves out of the bog, he ignores how he sprung into this world halfway up the ladder.
That said, it would have been easy for a man born of such privilege to rest on that privilege. He could have lived safe and comfortably, studying his bugs, reading his books, carefully treating his asthma. But that is not what he did. Instead, he lived a life in which he tried to experience the whole world, and in the process, changed it forever.
November 30, 2014
I can't remember the last time I was so glad to have finished a book. Clearly, this is an award-winning work with lots of glowing reviews. From about the middle of the book on, it was a slog to get through. I won't say the book itself is bad, as it was meticulously researched and written. I think it's more a case of what I was expecting, and what I instead got from this that caused the problem.
What I expected:
1. I wanted to know TR as a human being: personal, professional, spiritual, social.
2. I wanted to understand his family life.
3. I wanted a flavor for the times in which he lived. I wanted to know what it was like to live in the mid-to-late 1800s in America.
4. I wanted to be entertained. I wanted to learn something. I wanted to be moved. What do all of us want when we pick up a book? This is one of our best known presidents. Ideally, I wanted to come away with a great respect and admiration for the subject.
What I got:
1. If you're familiar with the Seinfeld episode about the "minutia", then I could stop this review right here. The book started with so much promise. I thought I was getting everything in my list. I was so happy to have been recommended this book. This lasted for a couple hundred pages, when TR's young life was covered. I wasn't getting a good flavor for the times, but it seemed we could be headed in that direction. Wrong.
2. If you are a hunter and can picture yourself literally dancing with glee after shooting an animal (TR actually did this after shooting his first buffalo. I have to say, he lost a lot of my respect at that point. I can appreciate people who hunt for meat, even though I wouldn't do it unless I was actually starving. But to dance with glee after shooting an animal with a rifle? Takes it a bit far, sorry), then by all means read this book. You will get LOTS, and I do mean lots, of detail about every animal he shot: where the bullet went in, where it came out, in some cases where the bullet went after exiting, information in short that no one wants to know. Really, does even the most avid sportsman want to hear this? I ask you. There were whole chapters devoted to hunting details. Not kidding.
3. You will get chapter and verse and verse and verse about every job he took, and almost what he did every day at that job. I'm really not exaggerating. Details at the level that you'd be totally uninterested unless you were writing an assigned paper about TR. And even then, I don't think even the scholars are interested in that level of minutia.
4. The Spanish-American war was covered. I still don't understand why this happened and what was the real end result. Really? In a book with so much pointless detail, you can't give the reader a real understanding of this conflict? It would only take a paragraph or two. I'm not looking to write an article about it, but a good basic understanding would be nice in a book over 900 pages long. I came in with no understanding, so perhaps the intended audience already had an understanding of that war. Ok, fine. But we got tons and tons of totally pointless detail about hills, ridges. You talk about missing the forest for the trees. Classic case right here.
5. Once he marries, you get virtually nothing about his family life, how he relates to his wife and kids. Almost zilch. This was a big surprise to me.
So that about sums it up. Never write a sentence when a whole chapter (or multiple chapters) would do. If the details were interesting, fine. I expect lots of interesting detail in a book this long; in fact, that's what I'm looking for. Morris ran out of interesting a couple hundred pages in. I'd give this book one star but for the promising, engaging beginning.
What I expected:
1. I wanted to know TR as a human being: personal, professional, spiritual, social.
2. I wanted to understand his family life.
3. I wanted a flavor for the times in which he lived. I wanted to know what it was like to live in the mid-to-late 1800s in America.
4. I wanted to be entertained. I wanted to learn something. I wanted to be moved. What do all of us want when we pick up a book? This is one of our best known presidents. Ideally, I wanted to come away with a great respect and admiration for the subject.
What I got:
1. If you're familiar with the Seinfeld episode about the "minutia", then I could stop this review right here. The book started with so much promise. I thought I was getting everything in my list. I was so happy to have been recommended this book. This lasted for a couple hundred pages, when TR's young life was covered. I wasn't getting a good flavor for the times, but it seemed we could be headed in that direction. Wrong.
2. If you are a hunter and can picture yourself literally dancing with glee after shooting an animal (TR actually did this after shooting his first buffalo. I have to say, he lost a lot of my respect at that point. I can appreciate people who hunt for meat, even though I wouldn't do it unless I was actually starving. But to dance with glee after shooting an animal with a rifle? Takes it a bit far, sorry), then by all means read this book. You will get LOTS, and I do mean lots, of detail about every animal he shot: where the bullet went in, where it came out, in some cases where the bullet went after exiting, information in short that no one wants to know. Really, does even the most avid sportsman want to hear this? I ask you. There were whole chapters devoted to hunting details. Not kidding.
3. You will get chapter and verse and verse and verse about every job he took, and almost what he did every day at that job. I'm really not exaggerating. Details at the level that you'd be totally uninterested unless you were writing an assigned paper about TR. And even then, I don't think even the scholars are interested in that level of minutia.
4. The Spanish-American war was covered. I still don't understand why this happened and what was the real end result. Really? In a book with so much pointless detail, you can't give the reader a real understanding of this conflict? It would only take a paragraph or two. I'm not looking to write an article about it, but a good basic understanding would be nice in a book over 900 pages long. I came in with no understanding, so perhaps the intended audience already had an understanding of that war. Ok, fine. But we got tons and tons of totally pointless detail about hills, ridges. You talk about missing the forest for the trees. Classic case right here.
5. Once he marries, you get virtually nothing about his family life, how he relates to his wife and kids. Almost zilch. This was a big surprise to me.
So that about sums it up. Never write a sentence when a whole chapter (or multiple chapters) would do. If the details were interesting, fine. I expect lots of interesting detail in a book this long; in fact, that's what I'm looking for. Morris ran out of interesting a couple hundred pages in. I'd give this book one star but for the promising, engaging beginning.
June 18, 2013
On completion:
This was an absolutely excellent book. It gave me everything I want from a biography. It chronologically relates all aspects of Theodore Roosevelt's life up to his presidency, after President McKinley's assassination in 1901. The next in the trilogy covers his years in the Presidency: Theodore Rex. I will very soon continue with that! I was worried that it might be repetitive, having years ago read (and loved)David McCullough's Mornings on Horseback. Such a worry was unnecessary. Edmund Morris' book went much further in depth. I completely know now Theodore's personality. I know what he would do and what he would most probably say in a given situation. This author had me laughing at some of the things Theodore had the nerve to say and do! His ego was rather inflated, to say the least, but that doesn't mean I didn't also find him highly worthy of admiration.
Gosh, I have never run into someone with so much energy. Absolutely never. Please read the comments left below this review if you want more details of some of the events in this book. I should say that not a word have I mentioned about Theodore's "Rough Riders" of 1898 and his role in the Spanish-American War. You simply must read the book to find out about that! It is engaging and amazing and funny! This author made some of the events of that war hilariously amusing! Is that possible? Yes!
I honestly cannot think of anything to complain about in relation to this book OR its narration by Mark Deakins. OK, only one thing, and it is so very minor that it is pitiful. The narrator would read the date July 1, 1900, as "July one 1900" rather than "July first 1900". THAT is the only puny complaint I can think of. I compared Deakins narration to the Theodore's own speeches found on Utube. Deakins perfectly bit off and spit out his words, as Theodore learned to do in his fight against asthma.
If you are in the least interested in Theodore Roosevelt, then read this book.....even if it is very long! I will soon be reviewing the next in the trilogy to see if it too is as amusing and interesting and engaging as this one as proved to be! In fact you do not even have to be interested in reading about presidents to choose this book. He is an amazing person. I have never run across someone like this.
*********************
I have listened to about 3/4 of the book. I am thoroughly enjoying it. By that I mean sometimes I feel like clobbering Theodore and then later I want to hug him. He has qualities that are m-a-g-n-i-f-i-c-e-n-t. I like that this author has shown me both sides to such a degree that I hate him and love him. In the comments below this review I have gone into details. If you are looking for more details, please check them out there. Really good book and really good narration by Mark Deakins. Yes, this is long, over 26 hours and only the first of a trilogy, but well worth every minute.
**********************
My first impressions:
Once you get beyond the prologue, this book grabs your attention. I do understand that the purpose of the prologue is to show the outstanding characteristics of the man, but it throws in names and details that have no depth. That is impossible in a prologue; that is why you are reading the book, and this is the first of a trilogy on Theodore Roosevelt. The next, Theodore Rex, covers his two terms as president. Colonel Roosevelt concludes his life story.
What you immediately draw from the prologue is the energy of the man. In 1907 in the White House he shook hands with all those invited to say: “Happy New Year!” Quickly, at the speed of 50 per minute. (Skeptical me….is that possible?) He set a record with this, no one else for a century shook hands so quickly and with so many. But what does this says about him? Think about it. What we immediately grasp from the prologue and then the following chapters on his youth is how the hyperactive youth develops into a man of strength and vitality. From a very young age he has serious bouts of asthma. His father takes him aside and discusses his physical disability. Theodore declares that he will conquer his body! “He will make his body.” His fight for survival shaped him and it strengthened him; it made him a fighter.
From the very first chapters we see the man who came to be a conservationist. He started his “Roosevelt Museum of Natural History”, to the disgust of family and servants. Smelly! He learned taxidermy. He had is head in a book, often standing on one leg that gave him the pose of a flamingo. He scientifically observes the world around him, and what delight he discovers when he finds that with glasses he can actually see the world around him. He had no idea the world could be so sharp. He wrote in a diary. He wrote letters. Many, many remain and they reveal his personality, his inborn humor. In a letter to an Aunt when he is on tour in Egypt he remarks, “I may as well mention that the dress of the inhabitants up to ten years of age is nothing! After that they put on a shirt descended from some remote ancestor and never take it off until their death.” He did like Egypt. He now had glasses and he scientifically observes and records all that he sees of the fauna. The birds, so many birds! But he is still an ordinary boy. He learns to box, to defend himself vis-à-vis peers. He groans over his father dragging them all off for a year in Europe.
How Theodore views his own illness is reflected in this quote from a letter sent to his father when he was a young teenager, alone with two siblings in Dresden. (His father thought it important to encourage his children’s independence.) Here are the lines:
I am at present suffering from a very slight attack of asthma. However, it is but a small attack, and except for the fact that I cannot speak without blowing up like an abridged edition of a hippopotamus, it does not inconvenience me much. We are now studying hard. Excuse my writing; my asthma has made my hand tremble awfully. (chapter 2)
He views even himself with humor. The importance of books, his interest in fauna, his asthma and his staunch character are all evident in these lines.
The prologue was too stuffed, although I do understand its purpose, but then the book takes off with delightful details of Theodore’s youth, the characteristics he was born with and the events that shaped him. This book starts well. I hope it continues so. I just had to tell someone.
This was an absolutely excellent book. It gave me everything I want from a biography. It chronologically relates all aspects of Theodore Roosevelt's life up to his presidency, after President McKinley's assassination in 1901. The next in the trilogy covers his years in the Presidency: Theodore Rex. I will very soon continue with that! I was worried that it might be repetitive, having years ago read (and loved)David McCullough's Mornings on Horseback. Such a worry was unnecessary. Edmund Morris' book went much further in depth. I completely know now Theodore's personality. I know what he would do and what he would most probably say in a given situation. This author had me laughing at some of the things Theodore had the nerve to say and do! His ego was rather inflated, to say the least, but that doesn't mean I didn't also find him highly worthy of admiration.
Gosh, I have never run into someone with so much energy. Absolutely never. Please read the comments left below this review if you want more details of some of the events in this book. I should say that not a word have I mentioned about Theodore's "Rough Riders" of 1898 and his role in the Spanish-American War. You simply must read the book to find out about that! It is engaging and amazing and funny! This author made some of the events of that war hilariously amusing! Is that possible? Yes!
I honestly cannot think of anything to complain about in relation to this book OR its narration by Mark Deakins. OK, only one thing, and it is so very minor that it is pitiful. The narrator would read the date July 1, 1900, as "July one 1900" rather than "July first 1900". THAT is the only puny complaint I can think of. I compared Deakins narration to the Theodore's own speeches found on Utube. Deakins perfectly bit off and spit out his words, as Theodore learned to do in his fight against asthma.
If you are in the least interested in Theodore Roosevelt, then read this book.....even if it is very long! I will soon be reviewing the next in the trilogy to see if it too is as amusing and interesting and engaging as this one as proved to be! In fact you do not even have to be interested in reading about presidents to choose this book. He is an amazing person. I have never run across someone like this.
*********************
I have listened to about 3/4 of the book. I am thoroughly enjoying it. By that I mean sometimes I feel like clobbering Theodore and then later I want to hug him. He has qualities that are m-a-g-n-i-f-i-c-e-n-t. I like that this author has shown me both sides to such a degree that I hate him and love him. In the comments below this review I have gone into details. If you are looking for more details, please check them out there. Really good book and really good narration by Mark Deakins. Yes, this is long, over 26 hours and only the first of a trilogy, but well worth every minute.
**********************
My first impressions:
Once you get beyond the prologue, this book grabs your attention. I do understand that the purpose of the prologue is to show the outstanding characteristics of the man, but it throws in names and details that have no depth. That is impossible in a prologue; that is why you are reading the book, and this is the first of a trilogy on Theodore Roosevelt. The next, Theodore Rex, covers his two terms as president. Colonel Roosevelt concludes his life story.
What you immediately draw from the prologue is the energy of the man. In 1907 in the White House he shook hands with all those invited to say: “Happy New Year!” Quickly, at the speed of 50 per minute. (Skeptical me….is that possible?) He set a record with this, no one else for a century shook hands so quickly and with so many. But what does this says about him? Think about it. What we immediately grasp from the prologue and then the following chapters on his youth is how the hyperactive youth develops into a man of strength and vitality. From a very young age he has serious bouts of asthma. His father takes him aside and discusses his physical disability. Theodore declares that he will conquer his body! “He will make his body.” His fight for survival shaped him and it strengthened him; it made him a fighter.
From the very first chapters we see the man who came to be a conservationist. He started his “Roosevelt Museum of Natural History”, to the disgust of family and servants. Smelly! He learned taxidermy. He had is head in a book, often standing on one leg that gave him the pose of a flamingo. He scientifically observes the world around him, and what delight he discovers when he finds that with glasses he can actually see the world around him. He had no idea the world could be so sharp. He wrote in a diary. He wrote letters. Many, many remain and they reveal his personality, his inborn humor. In a letter to an Aunt when he is on tour in Egypt he remarks, “I may as well mention that the dress of the inhabitants up to ten years of age is nothing! After that they put on a shirt descended from some remote ancestor and never take it off until their death.” He did like Egypt. He now had glasses and he scientifically observes and records all that he sees of the fauna. The birds, so many birds! But he is still an ordinary boy. He learns to box, to defend himself vis-à-vis peers. He groans over his father dragging them all off for a year in Europe.
How Theodore views his own illness is reflected in this quote from a letter sent to his father when he was a young teenager, alone with two siblings in Dresden. (His father thought it important to encourage his children’s independence.) Here are the lines:
I am at present suffering from a very slight attack of asthma. However, it is but a small attack, and except for the fact that I cannot speak without blowing up like an abridged edition of a hippopotamus, it does not inconvenience me much. We are now studying hard. Excuse my writing; my asthma has made my hand tremble awfully. (chapter 2)
He views even himself with humor. The importance of books, his interest in fauna, his asthma and his staunch character are all evident in these lines.
The prologue was too stuffed, although I do understand its purpose, but then the book takes off with delightful details of Theodore’s youth, the characteristics he was born with and the events that shaped him. This book starts well. I hope it continues so. I just had to tell someone.
August 18, 2017
I had to give this book 5 stars because frankly, it is one of the finest biographies I have ever read. It is a narrative of TR's life told by a writer who is obviously one of the presidents biggest fans. That said, Morris does not allow his admiration and respect for his subject to cloud his judgment. When he determines that TR got it wrong, he says so. If there is one criticism that I have it is that Edith and TR's relationship is not really dealt with in any meaningful way. I would like to have known what she thought of her husbands sometimes wild ideas, whether he discussed them with her, how much credence he gave to her opinion. As I said, I had to award the book five stars because of the brilliant insightful way it was researched and written but I do feel that Morris let himself and his readers down by not delving into Edith's personality and their marriage. If we are to get a full story of the man, we need to know about the woman behind him. If I could award the book 4 1/2 stars I would have.
April 30, 2019
TED OF ALL TRADES, MASTER OF ALL
Edmund Morris ought to consider this new title for his next revised edition of this jam-packed book, so full of information and anecdotes that the reader would surely agree to the change a short time into the literary adventure. As thorough as the beginning of this biography might be, its ease of reading entices many who might otherwise shy away from so long a tome.
As I seek to expand my knowledge of some key historical figures, I chose to tackle the three volume Morris biography of Theodore Roosevelt. I sought not only to learn from what Morris garnered in his extensive research, but also to examine some of the key themes on offer, drawing threads throughout to see how Roosevelt's life developed and the way in which it was captured. Morris takes the reader through a thorough examination of the man from many facets, allowing those who digest the tales to attain a multi-dimensional picture of the man known to many a Teddy. Through his presentation of a few themes--the ongoing thirst for knowledge, dedication to family, and a passion for politics--Morris depicts Roosevelt as both a man of many complexities and one who is closely tied to those around him, and succeeds in selling this idea to the author in this first tome.
The first Volume, reviewed here, encompasses the life of Theodore Roosevelt from his birth in 1858 through to 1901. Morris lays the groundwork of the first theme, thirst for knowledge, early and often, by depicting young Teddy as an avid reader and naturalist whose young life was shaped by parents able to offer him many extravagances due to their wealth, including European vacations and tutored study. Young Roosevelt quenched this thirst by examining much around him and writing his own versions of tomes and reports, some of which he presented to family members while others he kept for himself. As he grew older and left home for Harvard, Roosevelt continued to dedicate himself to his studies, but also opened his mind to social clubs and the interaction with many of those around him, learning both from books and the lives of his acquaintances. His continual interest in new and exciting things led him to invest in cattle herds in the Wild West and piqued his interest enough to run for (and win a seat in) the New York State Assembly. There, Roosevelt's social demeanour opened new doors as he sought to expand his knowledge and permitted his climb to positions of power swiftly and with ease. With the partisan nature of politics and the Ward bosses always confounded him, Roosevelt used what he knew and his ever-present desire to tackle new challenges to wrestle with the political beast from a young age. He was, as Morris explores in one poignant chapter, the youngest candidate for Mayor of New York at the time and had no qualms running in this election against well-founded opponents.
Morris also explores a dedication to family, which stemmed from Roosevelt's early years. A sickly child, weighed down with asthma and other ailments, the young Roosevelt remained bedridden for a time. This sedentary life surely stoked the fires of the aforementioned knowledge seeking, but also helped Teddy develop a strong foundational interest in family. As a young man, when he met and married young Alice Lee, Roosevelt dedicated himself to his bride and sought to keep her abreast of his activities. As with many politicians (even today), the need for a dutiful wife who allows a husband to also delve into the political world forced Lee to accept Teddy's busy life. Teddy's life took on a new direction when Alice announced she was with child, forcing the young Roosevelt to prepare for the busy life of fatherhood. When, two days after the birth of his daughter, Roosevelt suffered the double inequity of Alice's death as well as that of his mother, Roosevelt entered a slump that no past familial foundation could cure. Morris explores how Roosevelt dedicated himself to new adventures, perhaps to bury the pain, in hopes of finding himself anew. An old flame, Edith Carow, returned to his life and soon they rekindle the love they shared, helping to pull Roosevelt from his slump. Married for a second time, Roosevelt soon becomes a father numerous times over and this rejuvenation helps him become the family man he strove to become, matching Theodore Roosevelt Senior (eventually 'the first' after Edith gives birth to a son). While the focus shifts away from family, Morris returns to the topic on occasion, perhaps to assure the reader that Roosevelt is not alone on this adventure, even if his family was not central in the numerous narrated activities.
As with many, the allure of politics was too strong for Roosevelt to ignore. Seeing its manifestation at an early age, Roosevelt watched his father negotiate through some of New York City's power brokers and how the game was played, its rule constantly changing. Winning office at a young age, Roosevelt sought to effect change of his own with his quick wit and attention to detail. While not always successful in his political ventures, he made a name for himself and did persuade many to follow his lead. Morris explains that Roosevelt stepped out of his father's shadow and forged new ground, all in an attempt to make a name for himself and better represent those within the GOP with strong ideas and reformist ways. His desire to look for new ways to tackle old issues helped develop his reform ideological stance, which was not always embraced openly by New Yorkers, voters and politicians alike. Yet, as Morris explores, these views never stopped gaining momentum and Roosevelt soon became a man to watch and a king maker in key state and national campaigns. As head of the Civil Service Commission under President Harrison, Roosevelt cut his teeth on the numerous issues of patronage riddling the federal bureaucracy. Butting heads with many in positions of power, Roosevelt forges ahead with his reform ideas and, oddly enough, is able to outlast the wave away from Harrison's obliteration after one term in office and stays on to serve Grover Cleveland, a quasi-ally from his time as an assemblyman. Taking his reform ideas to a position on the NYPD, Roosevelt becomes a feared man by beat cops and locals alike. When President McKinley calls for his return to the upper echelon of the federal bureaucracy, Roosevelt relishes the chance, offered Assistant Secretary of the Navy. There, he helps formulate key policy on ridding Spain of its imperial gems (namely Cuba and the Philippines), while flexing the muscle of the American military. Morris posits all this helped the United States draw a line in the sand and exemplify its interest in playing a role as a hegemonic power. All this in an effort for Morris to depict Roosevelt as a political animal, building a stronger foundation as the path to the White House becomes a little clearer. The final chapter of the volume focuses on this struggle to give up the reins of power in Albany and consider playing McKinley's running-mate in the 1900 election. Great storytelling by Morris depicts the frantic struggle of the Party, the potential candidate, and the delegates at the Convention. When Roosevelt agrees and eventually becomes VP, his rise to power, though deemed neutered, is only beginning.
Of note, it is highly amusing to see what might have been the first example of the United States backing a group who would eventually go on to seek its annihilation. Cuba, freed from Spanish control, would one day rise up and seek to push the United States out of its life, under the well-known dictator, Fidel Castro. One need only say bin Laden and Hussein to draw the other two parallels, both of which entangled the US Military in useless wars. Alas, two ranchers at the foundation... need I say more?
In this opening volume, one cannot offer enough kudos to Mr. Morris for his excellent work. I am eager to see where this is going and what lies in store for the reader and those figures who play a key role in Theodore Roosevelt's life.
Kudos, Mr. Morris, for a sobering and highly-exciting first volume of this biography!
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
Edmund Morris ought to consider this new title for his next revised edition of this jam-packed book, so full of information and anecdotes that the reader would surely agree to the change a short time into the literary adventure. As thorough as the beginning of this biography might be, its ease of reading entices many who might otherwise shy away from so long a tome.
As I seek to expand my knowledge of some key historical figures, I chose to tackle the three volume Morris biography of Theodore Roosevelt. I sought not only to learn from what Morris garnered in his extensive research, but also to examine some of the key themes on offer, drawing threads throughout to see how Roosevelt's life developed and the way in which it was captured. Morris takes the reader through a thorough examination of the man from many facets, allowing those who digest the tales to attain a multi-dimensional picture of the man known to many a Teddy. Through his presentation of a few themes--the ongoing thirst for knowledge, dedication to family, and a passion for politics--Morris depicts Roosevelt as both a man of many complexities and one who is closely tied to those around him, and succeeds in selling this idea to the author in this first tome.
The first Volume, reviewed here, encompasses the life of Theodore Roosevelt from his birth in 1858 through to 1901. Morris lays the groundwork of the first theme, thirst for knowledge, early and often, by depicting young Teddy as an avid reader and naturalist whose young life was shaped by parents able to offer him many extravagances due to their wealth, including European vacations and tutored study. Young Roosevelt quenched this thirst by examining much around him and writing his own versions of tomes and reports, some of which he presented to family members while others he kept for himself. As he grew older and left home for Harvard, Roosevelt continued to dedicate himself to his studies, but also opened his mind to social clubs and the interaction with many of those around him, learning both from books and the lives of his acquaintances. His continual interest in new and exciting things led him to invest in cattle herds in the Wild West and piqued his interest enough to run for (and win a seat in) the New York State Assembly. There, Roosevelt's social demeanour opened new doors as he sought to expand his knowledge and permitted his climb to positions of power swiftly and with ease. With the partisan nature of politics and the Ward bosses always confounded him, Roosevelt used what he knew and his ever-present desire to tackle new challenges to wrestle with the political beast from a young age. He was, as Morris explores in one poignant chapter, the youngest candidate for Mayor of New York at the time and had no qualms running in this election against well-founded opponents.
Morris also explores a dedication to family, which stemmed from Roosevelt's early years. A sickly child, weighed down with asthma and other ailments, the young Roosevelt remained bedridden for a time. This sedentary life surely stoked the fires of the aforementioned knowledge seeking, but also helped Teddy develop a strong foundational interest in family. As a young man, when he met and married young Alice Lee, Roosevelt dedicated himself to his bride and sought to keep her abreast of his activities. As with many politicians (even today), the need for a dutiful wife who allows a husband to also delve into the political world forced Lee to accept Teddy's busy life. Teddy's life took on a new direction when Alice announced she was with child, forcing the young Roosevelt to prepare for the busy life of fatherhood. When, two days after the birth of his daughter, Roosevelt suffered the double inequity of Alice's death as well as that of his mother, Roosevelt entered a slump that no past familial foundation could cure. Morris explores how Roosevelt dedicated himself to new adventures, perhaps to bury the pain, in hopes of finding himself anew. An old flame, Edith Carow, returned to his life and soon they rekindle the love they shared, helping to pull Roosevelt from his slump. Married for a second time, Roosevelt soon becomes a father numerous times over and this rejuvenation helps him become the family man he strove to become, matching Theodore Roosevelt Senior (eventually 'the first' after Edith gives birth to a son). While the focus shifts away from family, Morris returns to the topic on occasion, perhaps to assure the reader that Roosevelt is not alone on this adventure, even if his family was not central in the numerous narrated activities.
As with many, the allure of politics was too strong for Roosevelt to ignore. Seeing its manifestation at an early age, Roosevelt watched his father negotiate through some of New York City's power brokers and how the game was played, its rule constantly changing. Winning office at a young age, Roosevelt sought to effect change of his own with his quick wit and attention to detail. While not always successful in his political ventures, he made a name for himself and did persuade many to follow his lead. Morris explains that Roosevelt stepped out of his father's shadow and forged new ground, all in an attempt to make a name for himself and better represent those within the GOP with strong ideas and reformist ways. His desire to look for new ways to tackle old issues helped develop his reform ideological stance, which was not always embraced openly by New Yorkers, voters and politicians alike. Yet, as Morris explores, these views never stopped gaining momentum and Roosevelt soon became a man to watch and a king maker in key state and national campaigns. As head of the Civil Service Commission under President Harrison, Roosevelt cut his teeth on the numerous issues of patronage riddling the federal bureaucracy. Butting heads with many in positions of power, Roosevelt forges ahead with his reform ideas and, oddly enough, is able to outlast the wave away from Harrison's obliteration after one term in office and stays on to serve Grover Cleveland, a quasi-ally from his time as an assemblyman. Taking his reform ideas to a position on the NYPD, Roosevelt becomes a feared man by beat cops and locals alike. When President McKinley calls for his return to the upper echelon of the federal bureaucracy, Roosevelt relishes the chance, offered Assistant Secretary of the Navy. There, he helps formulate key policy on ridding Spain of its imperial gems (namely Cuba and the Philippines), while flexing the muscle of the American military. Morris posits all this helped the United States draw a line in the sand and exemplify its interest in playing a role as a hegemonic power. All this in an effort for Morris to depict Roosevelt as a political animal, building a stronger foundation as the path to the White House becomes a little clearer. The final chapter of the volume focuses on this struggle to give up the reins of power in Albany and consider playing McKinley's running-mate in the 1900 election. Great storytelling by Morris depicts the frantic struggle of the Party, the potential candidate, and the delegates at the Convention. When Roosevelt agrees and eventually becomes VP, his rise to power, though deemed neutered, is only beginning.
Of note, it is highly amusing to see what might have been the first example of the United States backing a group who would eventually go on to seek its annihilation. Cuba, freed from Spanish control, would one day rise up and seek to push the United States out of its life, under the well-known dictator, Fidel Castro. One need only say bin Laden and Hussein to draw the other two parallels, both of which entangled the US Military in useless wars. Alas, two ranchers at the foundation... need I say more?
In this opening volume, one cannot offer enough kudos to Mr. Morris for his excellent work. I am eager to see where this is going and what lies in store for the reader and those figures who play a key role in Theodore Roosevelt's life.
Kudos, Mr. Morris, for a sobering and highly-exciting first volume of this biography!
Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
May 12, 2015
In this superbly written first volume of three, Morris portrays a man of unbelievable fortitude, accomplishment and unparalleled scope. Theodore Roosevelt’s incredibly incisive mind is coupled with endless energy. He is anything he wants to be: an avid outdoorsman, a skillful boxer, an accomplished hunter, a cattle rancher, a Harvard phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude graduate, a devouring reader of every possible subject, an author of highly regarded books on topics as diverse as naval warfare and ornithology, a remarkable politician and reformer, a fearless war hero, and last but not least a loving husband and father with scrupulous moral values. And he is all this before becoming President at the age of forty-two. Who today could we offer for comparison? I can’t wait to start the second volume.
January 20, 2023
This man is one of the more fascinating of the US Presidents and should not have vowed to only do 2 terms (and then kept his vow) as he would have been good, I think, for 2 more than that. (I believe he regretted that vow when he saw what happened after he was gone from the White House).
This author is an excellent biographer and his whole series on TR is very good.
This author is an excellent biographer and his whole series on TR is very good.
February 26, 2021
Written Oct. 2014, minor revisions 19 Nov. 2017 - This 8 disc abridged audio version of the book makes me very sorry that this is only an abridged version, since I noticed many significant gaps that I want to know more about:
1. Father's family history - just how wealthy were the Roosevelts? Where did the money come from?
2. Mother's family history - how important were the slaves in the family? What happened to the family and the slaves during the civil war? How did her mother (Teddy's maternal grandmother) die at the end of (or just after?) the war? What about the Sherman's army march looting of the family estate (near Atlanta?)? What about her brothers (Teddy's uncles) who escaped to England (after the war?)?
3. What did his mother do during the civil war, living in NYC but being a "southern belle" through and through? Was she voluble or silent in her southern pride and politics?
4. What are the details of why Theodore Sr. (Teddy's father) "left the house" at the beginning of the civil war and worked in Washington. Could it have had something to do with his wife's southern allegiances? Where did he work in DC? Doing what? Morris said he was not political, but working in Washington sure sounds political to me.
5. What were the "sutler" arrangements that made their prices so high? Were they given exclusive rights (monopolies) to provide goods (at any price) to certain military posts? Were the sutlers actually at fault or was the government system of awarding monopolies the fault? Was the problem of the troops drinking, and spending any amount necessary to get some relief, caused by the sutlers, as Morris seems to claim, or was it the horrible wartime conditions and the very nature of the mission of and conditions the troops had to live in?
6. What about the connection between Theodore Sr. paying for another man to take his place in the war, Teddy's shame in this act of his father and his own possible reaction of exhibiting a "desperate drive to wage war."
7. What exactly did he study in "Political Economy" at Harvard that gave him such skewed views of private voluntary markets vs coercive government controls? For example, Disc 2 Track 4 "down with caveat emptor" was his rallying cry. How the heck did he get to that position, and WHY???
8. Who were the teachers and writers/thinkers who captivated his mind into the coercive "progressive" (Marxist/Socialist) policies that he championed and thought so superior for people's "good" over their own freedom?
These questions and many more are making this "read" (listen, actually) quite frustrating.
The style or slant of the book is so fawning on TR that I am dubious of the author's objectivity, or understanding of the importance and meaning of some of the subjects I mentioned above. But since this is only an abridged book version, I cannot pass final judgement.
I don't know whether to love or hate this book. The author is obviously tremendously taken by the subject, and that is frightening. But the portrait revealing TR's lust for war, his overweening arrogance, his shady deals and contradictions are all very valuable to know. Just how scary this man TR was and what a powerful influence he had on American thought and politics is something to consider. His actions and beliefs are such a harbinger of the:
- anti-capitalist,
- anti property rights,
- anti-rule of law and limited government
attacks on ideals that made this country truly great. The greatness that the ideals made of America are such a contrast to the "greatness" that TR strove for:
- highly government regulated economy,
- arbitrary government and mob controls over property,
- strong executives controlling government, preferably with himself in charge, vs. more representative control, and decentralized power, and
- expansion of government power and no interest in keeping it limited.
One of the very few pragmatic policies TR championed that seemed unalterably GOOD was when he was NYC Police Commissioner. He was faced with the issue of the Sunday blue laws - government decrees that closed bars on Sundays - and whether to enforce them or not, or to continue in their uneven and corruption-inducing enforcement. He chose to enforce them vigorously, across the board, in order to shine a clear light on how awful they were and thereby push people to call for repeal. His efforts were not effective in gaining repeal, but they did eliminate (for a time) the endemic corruption that came out of unequal enforcement and bribes/protection money paid to police.
On the overall negative side of the portrait of TR, and gosh, I wish I could have taken better notes, but listening while driving did not allow that, here is a sampling of the outrageous statements I was able to note:
Disc3 Track 13 - TR goes on a long trip out west, just after his wife and mother died almost at the same time, leaving his baby daughter in the care of his sister. This is but one note on the constant, gaping hole in the (abridged) book (recording) regarding TR's lack of concern with his closest family - wife and kids. Leading up to his first wife's and mother's deaths, Roosevelt was off in Albany working for some legislation. Can you imagine the insensitivity, the self-centeredness, the lack of decent concern for those one supposedly loves best, to consciously go away from them in their greatest time of need, just to try to pass some legislation? The amount of time that TR was with his wife during her pregnancy with his first daughter was shockingly low. The time he was away from his daughter after his wife died was outrageously high. Can you imagine being his daughter and growing up with him never once telling you about your mother, or him being away so often, especially during that first and second year?
The contrast in portraits of domestic lives between this book and McCullough's magisterial biography of John Adams is incredibly enlightening. The difference between Roosevelt's concerns for his wives and kids and Adams' should be a warning to anyone who objectively compares their governing philosophies too.
The efforts Adams made to keep America out of war, before the revolution and after, are starkly at odds with the philosophy and actions of Roosevelt's war-mongering machinations.
Disc 4, Track 14 - "A superior being [TR] who did not make them [common men] feel inferior."
Disc 4, track 6 or 7 - recounts his reading of Alfred Thayer Mahan's "Influence of Sea Power on History" and his subsequent deep friendship and alliance with this war hawk. VERY revealing and the foreshadowing of his pro-war schemes are ominous.
Disc. 6 - Pretty clear generally throughout the book, but stated perfectly here was his goal: to be part of the "governing class."
TR's racist and downright vile contempt for native Americans is painted pretty clearly, but then tempered by some statements that he really had no problem with their rising to participate on merit. But merit was handicapped so much by the governmental policies that crippled the native Americans with paternalistic socialism, that it takes almost miracles for merit to matter.
Last couple discs dealt with his simply disgusting manipulations to get the US into war with the Spanish. The strings he had to pull to get the Assistant Sec. of the Navy post, then his manipulations of the Sec. of the Navy while in that post, culminating in his pushing the likewise hawkish Commander Dewey to position the US fleet for takeover of the Spanish Philippines are classic warlike/dictatorial/Imperialistic type behavior. This was not proud, peace-loving American behavior.
Disc 8 (last) Track 2 gave the best and most ominous quote. TR is on the stump for the Vice Presidency with one of his best Rough Riders' sergeant's Buck Taylor, who delivered to a crowd the biggest faux pas of the campaign about his commander: "he led us up San Juan hill, like sheep to the slaughter, and so he will lead you." This was at Port Jervis and it apparently "delighted the crowd and did me nothing but good." Apparently the American people who voted for him had no problem giving him the "supreme power he craved" and themselves being considered "sheep for the slaughter." (Disc. 8 Track 7)
Apparently the Americans who have elected other similar dictatorial types, are not a new breed.
2021-01-18 - more clarification edits made.
1. Father's family history - just how wealthy were the Roosevelts? Where did the money come from?
2. Mother's family history - how important were the slaves in the family? What happened to the family and the slaves during the civil war? How did her mother (Teddy's maternal grandmother) die at the end of (or just after?) the war? What about the Sherman's army march looting of the family estate (near Atlanta?)? What about her brothers (Teddy's uncles) who escaped to England (after the war?)?
3. What did his mother do during the civil war, living in NYC but being a "southern belle" through and through? Was she voluble or silent in her southern pride and politics?
4. What are the details of why Theodore Sr. (Teddy's father) "left the house" at the beginning of the civil war and worked in Washington. Could it have had something to do with his wife's southern allegiances? Where did he work in DC? Doing what? Morris said he was not political, but working in Washington sure sounds political to me.
5. What were the "sutler" arrangements that made their prices so high? Were they given exclusive rights (monopolies) to provide goods (at any price) to certain military posts? Were the sutlers actually at fault or was the government system of awarding monopolies the fault? Was the problem of the troops drinking, and spending any amount necessary to get some relief, caused by the sutlers, as Morris seems to claim, or was it the horrible wartime conditions and the very nature of the mission of and conditions the troops had to live in?
6. What about the connection between Theodore Sr. paying for another man to take his place in the war, Teddy's shame in this act of his father and his own possible reaction of exhibiting a "desperate drive to wage war."
7. What exactly did he study in "Political Economy" at Harvard that gave him such skewed views of private voluntary markets vs coercive government controls? For example, Disc 2 Track 4 "down with caveat emptor" was his rallying cry. How the heck did he get to that position, and WHY???
8. Who were the teachers and writers/thinkers who captivated his mind into the coercive "progressive" (Marxist/Socialist) policies that he championed and thought so superior for people's "good" over their own freedom?
These questions and many more are making this "read" (listen, actually) quite frustrating.
The style or slant of the book is so fawning on TR that I am dubious of the author's objectivity, or understanding of the importance and meaning of some of the subjects I mentioned above. But since this is only an abridged book version, I cannot pass final judgement.
I don't know whether to love or hate this book. The author is obviously tremendously taken by the subject, and that is frightening. But the portrait revealing TR's lust for war, his overweening arrogance, his shady deals and contradictions are all very valuable to know. Just how scary this man TR was and what a powerful influence he had on American thought and politics is something to consider. His actions and beliefs are such a harbinger of the:
- anti-capitalist,
- anti property rights,
- anti-rule of law and limited government
attacks on ideals that made this country truly great. The greatness that the ideals made of America are such a contrast to the "greatness" that TR strove for:
- highly government regulated economy,
- arbitrary government and mob controls over property,
- strong executives controlling government, preferably with himself in charge, vs. more representative control, and decentralized power, and
- expansion of government power and no interest in keeping it limited.
One of the very few pragmatic policies TR championed that seemed unalterably GOOD was when he was NYC Police Commissioner. He was faced with the issue of the Sunday blue laws - government decrees that closed bars on Sundays - and whether to enforce them or not, or to continue in their uneven and corruption-inducing enforcement. He chose to enforce them vigorously, across the board, in order to shine a clear light on how awful they were and thereby push people to call for repeal. His efforts were not effective in gaining repeal, but they did eliminate (for a time) the endemic corruption that came out of unequal enforcement and bribes/protection money paid to police.
On the overall negative side of the portrait of TR, and gosh, I wish I could have taken better notes, but listening while driving did not allow that, here is a sampling of the outrageous statements I was able to note:
Disc3 Track 13 - TR goes on a long trip out west, just after his wife and mother died almost at the same time, leaving his baby daughter in the care of his sister. This is but one note on the constant, gaping hole in the (abridged) book (recording) regarding TR's lack of concern with his closest family - wife and kids. Leading up to his first wife's and mother's deaths, Roosevelt was off in Albany working for some legislation. Can you imagine the insensitivity, the self-centeredness, the lack of decent concern for those one supposedly loves best, to consciously go away from them in their greatest time of need, just to try to pass some legislation? The amount of time that TR was with his wife during her pregnancy with his first daughter was shockingly low. The time he was away from his daughter after his wife died was outrageously high. Can you imagine being his daughter and growing up with him never once telling you about your mother, or him being away so often, especially during that first and second year?
The contrast in portraits of domestic lives between this book and McCullough's magisterial biography of John Adams is incredibly enlightening. The difference between Roosevelt's concerns for his wives and kids and Adams' should be a warning to anyone who objectively compares their governing philosophies too.
The efforts Adams made to keep America out of war, before the revolution and after, are starkly at odds with the philosophy and actions of Roosevelt's war-mongering machinations.
Disc 4, Track 14 - "A superior being [TR] who did not make them [common men] feel inferior."
Disc 4, track 6 or 7 - recounts his reading of Alfred Thayer Mahan's "Influence of Sea Power on History" and his subsequent deep friendship and alliance with this war hawk. VERY revealing and the foreshadowing of his pro-war schemes are ominous.
Disc. 6 - Pretty clear generally throughout the book, but stated perfectly here was his goal: to be part of the "governing class."
TR's racist and downright vile contempt for native Americans is painted pretty clearly, but then tempered by some statements that he really had no problem with their rising to participate on merit. But merit was handicapped so much by the governmental policies that crippled the native Americans with paternalistic socialism, that it takes almost miracles for merit to matter.
Last couple discs dealt with his simply disgusting manipulations to get the US into war with the Spanish. The strings he had to pull to get the Assistant Sec. of the Navy post, then his manipulations of the Sec. of the Navy while in that post, culminating in his pushing the likewise hawkish Commander Dewey to position the US fleet for takeover of the Spanish Philippines are classic warlike/dictatorial/Imperialistic type behavior. This was not proud, peace-loving American behavior.
Disc 8 (last) Track 2 gave the best and most ominous quote. TR is on the stump for the Vice Presidency with one of his best Rough Riders' sergeant's Buck Taylor, who delivered to a crowd the biggest faux pas of the campaign about his commander: "he led us up San Juan hill, like sheep to the slaughter, and so he will lead you." This was at Port Jervis and it apparently "delighted the crowd and did me nothing but good." Apparently the American people who voted for him had no problem giving him the "supreme power he craved" and themselves being considered "sheep for the slaughter." (Disc. 8 Track 7)
Apparently the Americans who have elected other similar dictatorial types, are not a new breed.
2021-01-18 - more clarification edits made.
March 29, 2011
This is one of the great biographies of all time, certainly the greatest I have ever read. Thus it is also the greatest presidential biography I have ever read, and I've read nearly thirty such volumes. This is the first volume of Edmund Morris's three-volume biography of Theodore Roosevelt, covering the years from his birth to the moment his presidency began. Never have I read such a thoroughly researched, minutely detailed, yet stirring and compelling biography. This is a book that seems to overlook nothing, yet it propels the reader like a great novel. It is a masterful, unforgettable achievement, one which leaves me hungry for the second and third volumes.
July 24, 2019
“It is not often that a man can make opportunities for himself. But he can put himself in such shape that when or if the opportunities come he is ready to take advantage of them.”
It was probably unfair to read this so soon after Ron Chernow's Grant, which is still the best biography I've read to date.
Morris does an exceptional job—however—this book is filled with rather mundane minutia and not as much heart or character as I was hoping for. Maybe I just like an underdog story (Grant) more than a born into wealth, power and privilege memoir.
Still, Roosevelt's transformation from a sickly, scrawny science nerd to powerful politician was impressively delineated.
This 1980 Pulitzer Prize winner is meaty and informative, if a tad dry in spots. Looking forward to reading Theodore Rex and Colonel Roosevelt in the future.
——————
My favorite aspect of Roosevelt was his voracious appetite for literature. The following quote from Teddy Roosevelt's 10 Rules for Reading inspired me to pick up this book:
"He would read a book before breakfast every day, and depending on his schedule, another two or three in the evening (he was a speed reader extraordinaire). By his own estimates he read tens of thousands of books over the course of his lifetime."
“The president manages to get through one book a day even when he is busy. Owen Wister has lent him a book shortly before a full evening’s entertainment at the white house, and been astonished to hear a complete review of it over breakfast. “Somewhere between six one evening and eight-thirty next morning, beside his dressing and his dinner and his guests and his sleep, he had read a volume of three-hundred-and-odd pages, and missed nothing of significance that it contained.”
— Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
It was probably unfair to read this so soon after Ron Chernow's Grant, which is still the best biography I've read to date.
Morris does an exceptional job—however—this book is filled with rather mundane minutia and not as much heart or character as I was hoping for. Maybe I just like an underdog story (Grant) more than a born into wealth, power and privilege memoir.
Still, Roosevelt's transformation from a sickly, scrawny science nerd to powerful politician was impressively delineated.
This 1980 Pulitzer Prize winner is meaty and informative, if a tad dry in spots. Looking forward to reading Theodore Rex and Colonel Roosevelt in the future.
——————
My favorite aspect of Roosevelt was his voracious appetite for literature. The following quote from Teddy Roosevelt's 10 Rules for Reading inspired me to pick up this book:
"He would read a book before breakfast every day, and depending on his schedule, another two or three in the evening (he was a speed reader extraordinaire). By his own estimates he read tens of thousands of books over the course of his lifetime."
“The president manages to get through one book a day even when he is busy. Owen Wister has lent him a book shortly before a full evening’s entertainment at the white house, and been astonished to hear a complete review of it over breakfast. “Somewhere between six one evening and eight-thirty next morning, beside his dressing and his dinner and his guests and his sleep, he had read a volume of three-hundred-and-odd pages, and missed nothing of significance that it contained.”
— Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
September 17, 2012
Having been invited by Nate and Robyn Gregory to spend two weeks with them in NW Wisconsin and having had several prior visits to the nearby town, I brought up two books for scholarly review and trusted to the Hayward animal welfare resale shop for supplementary pleasure reading. There I picked up this text and a couple of birthday gifts for a niece, expecting to make a start while still up in the north woods, but to finish it at home.
In fact, the text was so engrossing that I finished it in a few days. Having just read another biography of the young Roosevelt, Mornings on Horseback, I had expected to be a bit bored by repetition. This was not the case. Even moreso than the other book, The Rise represents its subject as a distinctive, forceful personality--engaging yet incredible.
It also covers a longer span, taking Roosevelt up to his becoming President.
For me, Theodore Roosevelt is somewhat enigmatic. He was at once an aristocratic advocate for the American commonweal and a jingoistic advocate of imperialist adventurism. He was a prodigious hunter, the slayer of thousands and tens of thousands, and an early conservationist. He defended some of the interests of the domestic working class, of women and of children, but he was proud of having personally killed at least one Spanish soldier in the US invasion of Cuba, little concerned for the dubious pretext for the invasion or for the person and relations of the poor man he slayed. In this regard one is reminded of the true believers as regards our recent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq--Roosevelt being exceptional in that he was a blueblood politician who actually participated at some risk in the foreign policy he advocated.
In fact, the text was so engrossing that I finished it in a few days. Having just read another biography of the young Roosevelt, Mornings on Horseback, I had expected to be a bit bored by repetition. This was not the case. Even moreso than the other book, The Rise represents its subject as a distinctive, forceful personality--engaging yet incredible.
It also covers a longer span, taking Roosevelt up to his becoming President.
For me, Theodore Roosevelt is somewhat enigmatic. He was at once an aristocratic advocate for the American commonweal and a jingoistic advocate of imperialist adventurism. He was a prodigious hunter, the slayer of thousands and tens of thousands, and an early conservationist. He defended some of the interests of the domestic working class, of women and of children, but he was proud of having personally killed at least one Spanish soldier in the US invasion of Cuba, little concerned for the dubious pretext for the invasion or for the person and relations of the poor man he slayed. In this regard one is reminded of the true believers as regards our recent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq--Roosevelt being exceptional in that he was a blueblood politician who actually participated at some risk in the foreign policy he advocated.
July 1, 2018
Read like an adventure story. What an interesting man Teddy was.
July 3, 2016
Theodore Roosevelt is one of our most admired presidents. It seems that regardless of one's political viewpoints there is something about him that one can admire. There is a laundry list: Liberals, conservatives, gun-owners, hunters, conservationists, doves, hawks, capitalists, socialists, racists. You name the cause or special interest and it seems that Theodore Roosevelt covered it -a true Renaissance Man . Wait a minute what was that last thing, racists? Yes I included racists in that list. Theodore Roosevelt, at least in his younger days, was not above resorting to racism to score political points with voters. It was the late nineteenth century and racism was institutionalized ( many schools, scientists and churches taught that the white "race" was the superior race and meant to be in charge courtesy of both nature and God) and the law of the land. It should come as no surprise that Theodore Roosevelt ,especially in his youth, was as much a product of his time and place as the rest of us. He was only Human after all.
I started off my review of Edmund Morris's first installment with that observation to make a point. Edmund Morris wrote an honest biography about "Teddy". He did not write a starry eyed glossy account about the man nor did he create an assassination piece about the 26th president of the United States. Morris wrote an honest account that shows Theodore Roosevelt in both his glory as well as his more sordid moments. None of us can claim to be perfect and free of sin. Roosevelt is certainly no exception and Morris would have done no service to the man if he had written a biography that was incapable of acknowledging that he was complicated.
I have read Morris's trilogy in a very strange order. I started with "Theodore Rex" then preceeded to "Colonel Roosevelt" and finally concluded with "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt". It's taken me nine years to read the set (it took Morris almost thirty years to write the books) and I intentionally did not rush through them. When I started I was nine years younger (duh) and still somewhat hero worshiped Roosevelt. But,as the years have gone by, I've matured and my attitudes have changed. I'm now forty-eight and I'm a (little) more realistic about how flawed we Humans are. Instead of ignoring the weaknesses of those I care about, or getting angry at them for having flaws, I've realized that they are better served when they're removed from the pedastal.
Edmund Morris's books are marvelous reads. They are dense, but they never bore. Heavily researched and supported with both numerous photos and maps (when applicable) I completed them with the feeling that I finally had a better understanding of not only Roosevelt, but America. I no longer hero worship because I understand that Roosevelt was driven by energies that simply don't exist in me. He was also wealthy and it is easier to be a world shaker when one's bank account is fat. The one thing that Morris shows is that Roosevelt believed in himself and everything that he set out to do. Like many who are cut from the same cloth he could be selfish, self-centered, egotistical and cruel (strange how those seem to be almost required for the "movers and shakers"), but also generous (to a fault), kind and possessing of an iron willpower that far exceeds what I have. I also believe that Roosevelt was bi-polar and by sheer willpower was (more or less) able to moderate it by always pursuing three dozen goals at the same time. Morris does an excellent job documenting all these aspects and others in his books. They are both very personal and provide a look at the history of the United States during his lifetime.
If planning to read Morris's trilogy I recommend taking your time. Perhaps a couple of years. As I observed earlier he is an effective writer and researcher, but you will not blow through his books. This is not a bad thing. Some genres are better served by the slow approach. In the end I'm grateful that I took my time. It was time well spent and I'll be holding onto them. I no longer hero worship Theodore Roosevelt. I feel that I have a better understanding of him,warts and all, and that is actually better. None of us should be remembered in such simplistic terms.
I started off my review of Edmund Morris's first installment with that observation to make a point. Edmund Morris wrote an honest biography about "Teddy". He did not write a starry eyed glossy account about the man nor did he create an assassination piece about the 26th president of the United States. Morris wrote an honest account that shows Theodore Roosevelt in both his glory as well as his more sordid moments. None of us can claim to be perfect and free of sin. Roosevelt is certainly no exception and Morris would have done no service to the man if he had written a biography that was incapable of acknowledging that he was complicated.
I have read Morris's trilogy in a very strange order. I started with "Theodore Rex" then preceeded to "Colonel Roosevelt" and finally concluded with "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt". It's taken me nine years to read the set (it took Morris almost thirty years to write the books) and I intentionally did not rush through them. When I started I was nine years younger (duh) and still somewhat hero worshiped Roosevelt. But,as the years have gone by, I've matured and my attitudes have changed. I'm now forty-eight and I'm a (little) more realistic about how flawed we Humans are. Instead of ignoring the weaknesses of those I care about, or getting angry at them for having flaws, I've realized that they are better served when they're removed from the pedastal.
Edmund Morris's books are marvelous reads. They are dense, but they never bore. Heavily researched and supported with both numerous photos and maps (when applicable) I completed them with the feeling that I finally had a better understanding of not only Roosevelt, but America. I no longer hero worship because I understand that Roosevelt was driven by energies that simply don't exist in me. He was also wealthy and it is easier to be a world shaker when one's bank account is fat. The one thing that Morris shows is that Roosevelt believed in himself and everything that he set out to do. Like many who are cut from the same cloth he could be selfish, self-centered, egotistical and cruel (strange how those seem to be almost required for the "movers and shakers"), but also generous (to a fault), kind and possessing of an iron willpower that far exceeds what I have. I also believe that Roosevelt was bi-polar and by sheer willpower was (more or less) able to moderate it by always pursuing three dozen goals at the same time. Morris does an excellent job documenting all these aspects and others in his books. They are both very personal and provide a look at the history of the United States during his lifetime.
If planning to read Morris's trilogy I recommend taking your time. Perhaps a couple of years. As I observed earlier he is an effective writer and researcher, but you will not blow through his books. This is not a bad thing. Some genres are better served by the slow approach. In the end I'm grateful that I took my time. It was time well spent and I'll be holding onto them. I no longer hero worship Theodore Roosevelt. I feel that I have a better understanding of him,warts and all, and that is actually better. None of us should be remembered in such simplistic terms.
October 18, 2007
Teddy Roosevelt ranks among the most colorful characters in American history. We all have heard of the charge of Roosevelt's Raiders up San Juan Hill. But who knows that Teddy once captured a horse thief? Who knows that Roosevelt was a prolific writer, and somewhat of an expert scientist? Teddy ranks alongside characters such as Alexander the Great, George Armstong Custer and Kit Carson as people one wonders, "How did they do so much in a single life?"
Edmund Morris is one of the best writers of historical non-fiction that I have come across, and I highly recommend this book, and its companion volume, "Theodore Rex", to readers.
Edmund Morris is one of the best writers of historical non-fiction that I have come across, and I highly recommend this book, and its companion volume, "Theodore Rex", to readers.
August 9, 2022
This is just... the absolute best dead leader biography I have ever read and two years later I still talk about it nonstop.
March 3, 2022
Edmund Morris's The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt is a formidable chronicle of the early years of that most formidable of American presidents. Morris provides a muscular account of TR's rise from asthmatic young aristocrat to ward politician, cowboy, police commissioner, Rough Rider, New York Governor and Vice President, ending his narrative just as Roosevelt ascends to the White House upon William McKinley's death. And what a whirlwind! Morris leaves no doubt about his admiration for Roosevelt, a man whose life is packed with adventures and achievements enough for one hundred. A brilliant polymath, he practiced his "strenuous life" hunting, cow-punching and hunting lawmen while consuming classical literature, writing treatises on science and history and winning the respect, if not admiration of everyone he met. He was the rare man who combined the intellectual and physical in equal measure, and his sheer energy overwhelms even in print. Morris's book renders TR's improbable life with sweeping, novelistic prose, with an eye for colorful set pieces (Roosevelt tracking three convicts across the Dakota Badlands, or his misadventures in the Spanish-American War, are as exciting as any adventure novel), elegant sketches of Roosevelt's family and confidantes, and an ability to render the most obtuse political wheelings and dealings compelling. If the book has a shortcoming it's that Morris is perhaps too fixed on Roosevelt's perspective to challenge him: he glosses over his oft-repugnant racial views, his bullying treatment of political or personal rivals, and his imperialism is treated as an extension of Roosevelt's outsized personality, a vision of an America as muscular and expansive as himself (never mind what Cubans and Filipinos might think about it). A generous reader can view this as a neutral lack of judgment; a more critical one that Morris is too enamored of Roosevelt to probe his shortcomings. Most readers won't adjudge this a fatal flaw, though; the book is sweeping written and endlessly absorbing, the rare biography that not only "reads like a novel" but actually approaches literature. A masterwork, worthy of its extraordinary subject.
January 9, 2018
It took quite a while to get through this one. I put it aside for a long while (twice) just to take a breather. Not because it's terrible; it's just so much information, and so detailed that it is at times difficult to absorb, and difficult to read at length in one sitting. Definitely a Sunday morning book, not a bedtime book during the work week. Unless you have insomnia. I don't mean that it poorly written, its just dense. Which is fine when reading about Teddy's extraordinary youth, his exploits out in the Dakota Territory or leading the charge up San Juan Hill. Not so engaging when he's the NYC Police Commissioner or the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Roosevelt is probably one of the greatest, most ambitious and most interesting Americans of all time. His entire life, and his boundless energy is astounding. The author is so enamored that he believes that literally everything Teddy did deserves mention. This lengthy tome is only the first of three massive volumes, and takes us only up to 1901 as he assumes the role of Vice President. I'm sure there are other books out there that offer a more easily digestible overview. This book is for those that want to take the deep dive.
Want to read
June 25, 2020Better read this before it is removed from circulation.
Or thrown on a pryor .
Or thrown on a pryor .
April 6, 2024
I read it a long time ago. I prefer a different genre, but I wanted to rate. I think that You can read this book
March 11, 2019
"Magisterial," "erudite," and yes, "definitive" are a few of the words I would use to describe "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt." Morris effectively captures just what a force of nature Roosevelt was and makes a strong case for Roosevelt as the most interesting president Americans have ever elected. At the same time, Morris does not cover up Roosevelt's warts: He was a racist and a war monger who found solace and joy in killing animals for sport.
One of the best ways to take a measure of the man and this biography is to look at the chapters that focus on Roosevelt's most seemingly mundane jobs, rather than his most colorful exploits in North Dakota and Cuba. How can you get more boring than serving as a member of civil service and police oversight commissions? Yet, it is in these roles that T.R. establishes himself as America's premier crusader for good government. He transforms the policing of New York in a matter of weeks by forcing the corrupt police chief and most vicious beat cop to resign. He then starts walking every corner of the city late at night to see which officers are actually doing their jobs. The person I was left most wanting to learn more about after reading about Teddy's police exploits was the photographer-writer Jacob Riis.
Ironically, it is the last third of the book when Roosevelt has increasingly important positions where Morris falters a bit. Morris does a superb job of showing T.R.'s relationships with his parents, siblings and first wife Alice, but after his remarriage and the suicide of his brother Elliot, the mentions of his family are minimal. Teddy remained close to his sisters, but there is no mention of his oldest sister's marriage in 1895, even though Morris leads us to assume that she will never marry. We also get not a hint of how his first child, Alice, would go on to become the most colorful first daughter in American history (my source for this is the book I read to my daughter, "What to Do About Alice?"). Chapter 20 "The Snake in the Grass" could easily be summarized in a few paragraphs in the previous chapter to make more room for T.R.'s family.
Three final points. One of the coolest literary devices Morris employs is to have the epigraph for each chapter be quotes from T.R.'s favorite poem, "The Saga of King Olaf." It is amazing how fitting each one is. Second, I can almost guarantee you will be looking up obscure words every ten pages or so. Finally, be sure to review Morris's copious footnotes. You will find many a fascinating tidbit (like the Dutch meaning of "Roosevelt"), and Teddy's most racist remarks.
I am all set to read "Theodore Rex" and "Alice" (by Stacy Cordery). I haven't decided if I will read Vol. III or "Edith Kermit Roosevelt" (by Morris's wife).
One of the best ways to take a measure of the man and this biography is to look at the chapters that focus on Roosevelt's most seemingly mundane jobs, rather than his most colorful exploits in North Dakota and Cuba. How can you get more boring than serving as a member of civil service and police oversight commissions? Yet, it is in these roles that T.R. establishes himself as America's premier crusader for good government. He transforms the policing of New York in a matter of weeks by forcing the corrupt police chief and most vicious beat cop to resign. He then starts walking every corner of the city late at night to see which officers are actually doing their jobs. The person I was left most wanting to learn more about after reading about Teddy's police exploits was the photographer-writer Jacob Riis.
Ironically, it is the last third of the book when Roosevelt has increasingly important positions where Morris falters a bit. Morris does a superb job of showing T.R.'s relationships with his parents, siblings and first wife Alice, but after his remarriage and the suicide of his brother Elliot, the mentions of his family are minimal. Teddy remained close to his sisters, but there is no mention of his oldest sister's marriage in 1895, even though Morris leads us to assume that she will never marry. We also get not a hint of how his first child, Alice, would go on to become the most colorful first daughter in American history (my source for this is the book I read to my daughter, "What to Do About Alice?"). Chapter 20 "The Snake in the Grass" could easily be summarized in a few paragraphs in the previous chapter to make more room for T.R.'s family.
Three final points. One of the coolest literary devices Morris employs is to have the epigraph for each chapter be quotes from T.R.'s favorite poem, "The Saga of King Olaf." It is amazing how fitting each one is. Second, I can almost guarantee you will be looking up obscure words every ten pages or so. Finally, be sure to review Morris's copious footnotes. You will find many a fascinating tidbit (like the Dutch meaning of "Roosevelt"), and Teddy's most racist remarks.
I am all set to read "Theodore Rex" and "Alice" (by Stacy Cordery). I haven't decided if I will read Vol. III or "Edith Kermit Roosevelt" (by Morris's wife).
December 31, 2022
Edmund Morris writes beautifully about one of the most horrific figures in American history. For starters, TR stole Cuba from my great-grandparents. He loved war and found, or invented, any excuse to wage it; an unabashed imperialist and jingoist who derided his critics as "sissies". He loathed refinement in politics, fighting, and even art, once calling Henry James "an effeminate exile". Morris takes us from the year of TR's birth (he claimed he remembered Union soldiers going off to war) to 1901 when, serving as vice-president, he surmised, atop a mountain cliff, that President McKinley had died of gunshot wounds. In between came bouts with asthma, years playing cowboy in the Badlands, and the charge up San Juan Hill during the Cuban War of 1898. This thick volume is a first-rate biography of a complex and ultimately monstrous man. Curiously, the British historian Hugh Thomas once claimed the historical figure TR most resembled was Che' Guevara, from life-long asthma attacks to beautifying war.
April 5, 2008
I'm a fiction reader, mostly; this was one of the efforts I made at reading some non-fiction after hearing Edmund Morris in an interview on a talk radio station. He was immensely impressive--so well spoken, so literate, so knowledgeable about, it seemed, nearly everything.
The book was as good as I had hoped, full of wonderful detail of Theodore Roosevelt's personal life. This first of (3?) books by Morris on Roosevelt was on his formative years--the love of his parents, the love of his family, the love of his life who died just after marriage, of his depression which took him West for much of his early life.
The development of his political policies becomes more understandable, but more than anything else, I was impressed by his great "vigor." It seemed utterly inexhaustible and was such a driving force in his view of life and things one could and should achieve.
The very satisfying story of a remarkable man written by a really gifted author.
The book was as good as I had hoped, full of wonderful detail of Theodore Roosevelt's personal life. This first of (3?) books by Morris on Roosevelt was on his formative years--the love of his parents, the love of his family, the love of his life who died just after marriage, of his depression which took him West for much of his early life.
The development of his political policies becomes more understandable, but more than anything else, I was impressed by his great "vigor." It seemed utterly inexhaustible and was such a driving force in his view of life and things one could and should achieve.
The very satisfying story of a remarkable man written by a really gifted author.
March 30, 2008
It is hard to believe this is not fiction. Roosevelt led an amazing childhood and early life, one that is not to be believed.
Aided by Morris' lively writing, this book follows TR from birth until just before he becomes President. It is not only a great picture of the precocious, intellectual, and multi-talented Roosevelt, but a good look at what America was like in the late 1800s and delves into alot of history that gets glossed over in school.
While this is the first book of a planned trilogy (Theodore Rex is the second, and the third is still in the works I hope), it is the best one so far.
I knew little about Roosevelt before i read this and am amazed at his accomplishments and character. A true renaissance man and Morris is a fantastic biographer.
A must read for all, even those who only like fiction.
Aided by Morris' lively writing, this book follows TR from birth until just before he becomes President. It is not only a great picture of the precocious, intellectual, and multi-talented Roosevelt, but a good look at what America was like in the late 1800s and delves into alot of history that gets glossed over in school.
While this is the first book of a planned trilogy (Theodore Rex is the second, and the third is still in the works I hope), it is the best one so far.
I knew little about Roosevelt before i read this and am amazed at his accomplishments and character. A true renaissance man and Morris is a fantastic biographer.
A must read for all, even those who only like fiction.
November 29, 2016
An excellent account of TR up to his vice presidency. Even knowing what comes next, it is amazing that Morris leaves us with a cliff hanger at the end of this volume.
February 14, 2018
This is a forty-year-old biography that is as fresh today as it was in the 1970s. "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" is the best-known of modern biographies of Theodore Roosevelt, although it only covers his life up to his accession to the Presidency, in 1901. It wholly warrants its reputation—the writing is clear and compelling, the facts are relevant and interesting, and the author, Edmund Morris, treats the man through the lens of his time, not with any jarring ideological overlay imported from today. The reader feels like he is practically living in the time, and that is a hard trick to pull off, especially for eight hundred pages.
Roosevelt was born in 1858, and was therefore a small boy during the Civil War. He grew up in New York, but his mother was a southern belle and an active supporter of the Confederacy, which created some tense marital moments in an otherwise happy marriage. The family was very wealthy and very established, and Roosevelt’s father (also Theodore) was a dominating presence within it, a benevolent patriarch. Morris follows Roosevelt from birth, through education, early politics, time spent in the West, more politics, yet more politics, Cuba, and, finally, his brief time as Vice President. The focus, though, is on Roosevelt the person in the context of his times, not on his times—thus, there is a vast amount of information about Roosevelt’s personal life, which makes him a much more compelling figure than would a focus on, say, the politics of his time as Governor of New York (though that is covered too).
One thing that comes through very clearly in the book is the old American expectation of the wealthy, where the rich hewed closely to the Biblical injunction, “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.” In those days, as shown by Roosevelt’s father, great wealth carried with it great expectations, an obligation that, while it was not always honored at that time, has almost totally disappeared in the liquid modernity of today, where the idea that rigid social expectations should constrain anyone at all is anathema to the modern belief in total and continual personal autonomy. Putatively the elder Theodore was a businessman, but not only did he devote much of his working life to philanthropy (among other things founding the New York Orthopedic Hospital), during the Civil War (although he paid another man as a substitute to serve in the Army, to the later dismay of his son) he designed a system to allow soldiers to authorize payroll deductions to support their families, and then, at his own expense, travelled all over for months selling the program to soldiers, sitting on a horse in the open air and pouring rain persuading soldiers to sign up. The idea of a rich man undertaking risks and pain to make a charity he had conceived of real, rather than donating money and then going to dinners so can people can suck up to and admire him, seems bizarre today.
Unsurprisingly, his father had a great influence on our Theodore Roosevelt, not least because his father died of colon cancer just as he came of age, thus forming an abstract model to which Roosevelt could aspire, but which was fixed and did not comment further on his life. Roosevelt inherited quite a bit of money, but not enough to live lavishly, and until later life he didn’t make much money himself (which is why his father told him that if he was not going to earn money, he “must even things up by not spending it”). He didn’t, therefore, live lavishly, but he did spend more than he should have, resulting in (like Winston Churchill) the frequent need to support his family in part by writing for the popular market.
Still, despite not oozing money, Roosevelt was able to afford benefits to his work that are essentially incomprehensible today. Chief among those was continual attention by servants and other servitors, allowing him to focus on his work. He had preternatural drive and discipline, and worked long hours, but turning that into his volume of output was only made possible by being relieved by others of having to do anything that might distract him. (Of course, it’s a good thing he lived before the Internet, the telephone, and other such diversions.) Morris does not emphasize this benefit to Roosevelt, perhaps figuring it’s obvious, but it shows up on nearly every page, and was continual from Roosevelt’s earliest life. For example, in a letter home during his freshman year at Harvard (where he snobbily refused to associate with any but the upper-crust students), Roosevelt casually refers to how his “scout” had “made the fire and blacked the boots,” and then called him to breakfast, prepared, naturally, by others. The rest of each day went the same. Glimpses of how other, less monied peers lived show up occasionally—Morris quotes “an old friend, separated from the Roosevelts by lesser means,” when he sees Roosevelt leaving the opera, “I remember thinking what an enormous start he had over youths like myself, whose daily bread depended on their daily effort.” Yes, Roosevelt accomplished an enormous amount, starting at an early age, but that was made possible by his circumstances as well as by his character—and even the rich today don’t have those same advantages, even if they are internally compelled to produce value, rather than spending their days posting on the Rich Kids of Instagram. I sometimes look at myself, now well into my forties, and wonder what I would have done with my life if I had not spent the past twenty-five years grinding away to become wealthy, only then turning my mind, somewhat, to other possible productive pursuits. Of course, maybe what I have done is enough, and presumably I still have a month or two left in which to do something maximally useful, plus maybe I just would have been a druggie if born rich and served hand and foot. Who’s to say? As Aslan told Lucy, “Child, no one is ever told what would have been.”
Speaking of output, I did not know that the first book Roosevelt wrote is still regarded as a classic and relevant—"The Naval War of 1812", which he published when he was twenty-three. It is exhaustive, and I found most relevant of all his stated reason for writing it: “[T]o learn anything from the past it is necessary to know, as near as may be, the exact truth—if only from the narrowest motives.” Given that most of what we are offered today is mutated histories, in which ideology is served at the expense of the exact truth, such a philosophy is something that would be well worth recapturing as the general rule. His later books, though, are regarded mostly as hackwork, not false but fairly pedestrian and bombastic. Morris read and commented on them all, coming to the charitable conclusion that their main worth is illuminating Roosevelt himself, given his frequent habit of really talking about himself when he’s supposedly commenting on his biographical object.
Roosevelt was a constant risk-taker, who exemplified (and pushed) masculinity, something that everyone knows what it is, since it’s primarily biological, but today our cultural elite denies exists other than as a social construct, usually termed pernicious. Roosevelt’s life, in many ways, refutes the silly idea of masculinity (and femininity) being a construct in the same way that Samuel Johnson, when told that one could not prove matter existed, vigorously kicked a rock and exclaimed “I refute it thus!” Examples of Roosevelt’s over-the-top masculinity abound, including his repeatedly risking his life by riding scores of miles through blizzards in the Badlands, chasing for weeks down an icy river in the Dakota Territory cutthroats who had stolen his small boat, and his pushing through frequent severe ailments. But my favorite example is when, during his Dakota Territory career, he had a business dispute with a local man named Paddock, a known killer who had shot several men. Roosevelt was told that Paddock was threatening him behind his back. So he rode to Paddock’s house, knocked on the door, and when Paddock appeared, rasped “I understand that you have threatened to kill me on sight. I have come over to see when you want to begin the killing.” Paddock backed down—but really, who among us would be so manly today? Not me, even in my younger, more aggressive days. Still, we could use a lot more of this masculinity today, rather than Pajama Boy and an effeminate, lift-up-your-skirts-and-shriek terror of mythical “toxic masculinity,” which is a contradiction in terms, when masculinity is properly defined—though the deliberate conflation of masculinity with what, in an earlier time, would simply have been called “vice” or “evil” is the entire point of the myth, if you think about it.
And Roosevelt constantly pushed masculinity as a tonic for others and society, too, as well as exemplifying it nearly to the point of caricature. Not everybody responded favorably. It certainly didn’t raise Henry James’s already low opinion of Roosevelt that Roosevelt thought he had “delicate, effeminate sensitivities” and was a “miserable little snob” who, “because he finds he cannot play a man’s part among men, goes [to England] where he will be sheltered from the winds that harden stouter souls.” (On balance, though, Roosevelt was right, as you will discover if you subject yourself today to any of James’s novels.) Roosevelt was only too happy to prescribe a heaping dose of masculinity for anything that ailed any man, but it seems unlikely anyone took him up on it to the degree he probably thought necessary.
While I hesitate to make the comparison, because it is grossly unfair to Roosevelt and implies a wholly undeserved elevation of Trump, it is fascinating to see that the chattering classes often saw Roosevelt in the same way as Trump is viewed. Woodrow Wilson called Roosevelt “the most dangerous man of the age.” Mark Twain called him “clearly insane.” Luminaries like Henry Adams and Henry James regarded him with distaste. A prominent newspaper editor said “he is the most dangerous foe to human liberty that has ever set foot on American soil.” But like Trump, Roosevelt simply ignored these criticisms, and charged forward, his default stance for his entire life. He was blessed by good luck, he had discipline (even if he was very quirky in his personality), and he did not face the unified opposition of the dominant classes like Trump does, so my guess is that Roosevelt’s strategy worked a lot better for him than its rough analogue will work for Trump (though early returns are looking pretty good for Trump). Nonetheless, it’s worth noting that men of action do best when ignoring the caviling of effete intellectuals, who wish they were men of action, as every man does, but just can never seem to manage it.
The only truly odd thing I noted about this book is that there are repeated glancing references not only to the large, extended Roosevelt family, but to its great power, and to its influence over Theodore Roosevelt at important junctures. The family had been wealthy and prominent for generations, so its relevance to New York society is not surprising. What is surprising is that we never get any remotely clear picture of the extended family. We don’t get any details at all, not even how many people were considered to be “in” the family. I suppose that would have made the book longer, but the reader is mystified by the occasional references to “rich uncles” or “cousins” who have important opinions and whose good offices need to be solicited, or to the “resentment of family elders against Theodore” when the scandal of his drunken, adulterous brother became public, where neither the “uncles” nor the “elders” are ever specified, and no further mention is made of them.
Roosevelt was not an ideologue; he was too close to real humans for that. He criticized utopians from Marx to Tolstoy to Henry George—anyone who “believes that at this stage of the world’s progress it is possible to make everyone happy by an immense social revolution, just as other enthusiasts of a similar mental caliber believe in the possibility of constructing a perpetual-motion machine.” Not that raw populism was any better. The vox populi was “the voice of the devil, or what is still worse, the voice of a fool.” He was an populist elitist, in a sense—he was all for the people, if they were first suitably led and guided, with their wants and choices channeled, if and to the extent their wants and choices lacked objective merit when rated on universal standards. But Roosevelt was all about the merit—other than limitations caused by merit, he wanted no limitations at all on people’s ability to participate and achieve. Thus, he wanted to extend the franchise to women, when that was not a popular position. And, rarely for his time. he was strongly opposed to racial discrimination in America, and more broadly opposed to the belief that other races, in America or anywhere, were biologically inferior, again when the opposite was received wisdom. He certainly thought, with good reason, that other cultures were inferior, but firmly believed that any culture, in any place, in time, with guidance, could climb up to be just as good as American culture, and probably would, given time.
This approach led, usually, to a clear-eyed grasp of the realities of cultural clashes. Roosevelt described the result of frontier warfare as “where brutal and reckless frontiersmen are brought into contact with a set of treacherous, vengeful, and fiendishly cruel savages a long series of outrages by both sides is sure to follow.” James Cozzens, in "The Earth is Weeping," describes the Indian Wars with more detail and less overt judgment, but really, both men see those wars the same. As Morris summarizes Roosevelt’s thought, “Any black or red man who could win admission to ‘the fellowship of the doers’ was superior to the white man who failed.” By the same token, any culture, if it tried hard enough, could be “as intellectual as the Athenian.” Accustomed as we are to the stupid idea that oppression, real or imagined, dictates outcome regardless of “doing,” rather than merit and hard work overcoming any real oppression just as it can overcome any of the other limitations every person faces, as reality tells us, this approach is a breath of fresh air. On the other hand, Roosevelt’s cultural diagnoses were not perfect—he also thought that the aristocratic class in America would decline in relative numbers, but standards would be maintained, because of the “transmission of acquired characters” to the rest of America. Looking around, it hasn’t exactly worked out that way, as Charles Murray will be happy to detail for you, or J. D. Vance.
Roosevelt was primarily, by choice, a politician. Being a national politician was very different back then, not because the issues were different (they are in every time), nor because the political class was more virtuous (it’s always been dumb and vicious—it’s the ruling class that’s deteriorated), but because the whole country was relevant. To take one of many examples, Roosevelt assiduously cultivated William Allen White, “editor of a powerful Midwestern newspaper.” Today, to say those words is to snicker at the oxymoron embedded in them. Similarly, at every political convention, many kingmakers were men from places like Cleveland and Indianapolis. It was true in less obvious ways, too—senators were still elected by their state legislatures, rather than by popular vote, so their election was not subject, as it is today and increasingly so, to corrupting influence from outside the state. Our modern system, where only wealthy people on the coasts are relevant to most national political decisions, is much less healthy than the system Roosevelt worked in, where the national political ecosystem was composed of people in every sizeable community in the entire nation.
In any case, in his political life, Roosevelt had two main political obsessions, only one of which is really associated in the public mind with Roosevelt today. That one was American expansionism—a variety of Manifest Destiny, but since the frontier was closed during Roosevelt’s youth, a Manifest Destiny focused outward, to Cuba and the Philippines, with Canada and Mexico occasionally getting a baleful glance. I imagine that the average educated person, if asked to characterize Roosevelt in one word, would probably say something like “imperialist” or “jingo,” being quite familiar with that aspect of the Rooseveltian program.
But the second obsession, and one which dominated Roosevelt’s early career, was so-called civil service reform, and that is largely forgotten today. At the time, this meant improving the quality of government workers by various changes to the system by which they were hired, chief among them ending the spoils system, whereby government jobs at all levels were handed out to political supporters upon a change in administration, and those who held those jobs under a prior administration were shown the door. The proposed alternatives mostly involved competitive examinations for place, as well as permanent appointments—i.e., choosing on objective merit and breaking the tie to a particular political party that turnover permitted. Roosevelt referred to his view, and of his allies, as those “whose only care is to secure a pure and honest government.” This optimistic view made sense at the time, for no doubt the unseemly scramble by untalented men for sinecures was an affront to those seeking efficient and impartial government. At that time, legislative bribery was extremely common, and the idea of bureaucrats who would be immune to bribery was also attractive. This was long before the explosion of bureaucracy detonated by Woodrow Wilson and the Progressives, and long before the corruptions of leftist ideology took hold in the imagination of the ruling classes, to be implemented by the unaccountable agents of those ruling classes, with ill effects far exceeding mere bribery.
Roosevelt was very successful in making great strides toward his goals, which were then furthered by others. Unfortunately, however, the ultimate result is the opposite of “pure and honest government.” What we have today is a monstrous federal bureaucracy, the administrative state, wholly an aggressive wing of the most leftist elements of the Democratic Party, permanently entrenched and ever-expanding, with no accountability to anyone at all except their ideological trench mates. And that bureaucracy is ever increasing, not only in numbers, but in power, in the grip it has on ordinary Americans, and in the gloating enjoyment it takes in grinding those Americans, in general and in particular those who oppose its leftist dictates, into the dirt. Roosevelt would be appalled and dismayed at the horror to which his idealism contributed (though, certainly, Wilson and the Progressives bear more of the responsibility).
[Review continues as first comment.]
Roosevelt was born in 1858, and was therefore a small boy during the Civil War. He grew up in New York, but his mother was a southern belle and an active supporter of the Confederacy, which created some tense marital moments in an otherwise happy marriage. The family was very wealthy and very established, and Roosevelt’s father (also Theodore) was a dominating presence within it, a benevolent patriarch. Morris follows Roosevelt from birth, through education, early politics, time spent in the West, more politics, yet more politics, Cuba, and, finally, his brief time as Vice President. The focus, though, is on Roosevelt the person in the context of his times, not on his times—thus, there is a vast amount of information about Roosevelt’s personal life, which makes him a much more compelling figure than would a focus on, say, the politics of his time as Governor of New York (though that is covered too).
One thing that comes through very clearly in the book is the old American expectation of the wealthy, where the rich hewed closely to the Biblical injunction, “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.” In those days, as shown by Roosevelt’s father, great wealth carried with it great expectations, an obligation that, while it was not always honored at that time, has almost totally disappeared in the liquid modernity of today, where the idea that rigid social expectations should constrain anyone at all is anathema to the modern belief in total and continual personal autonomy. Putatively the elder Theodore was a businessman, but not only did he devote much of his working life to philanthropy (among other things founding the New York Orthopedic Hospital), during the Civil War (although he paid another man as a substitute to serve in the Army, to the later dismay of his son) he designed a system to allow soldiers to authorize payroll deductions to support their families, and then, at his own expense, travelled all over for months selling the program to soldiers, sitting on a horse in the open air and pouring rain persuading soldiers to sign up. The idea of a rich man undertaking risks and pain to make a charity he had conceived of real, rather than donating money and then going to dinners so can people can suck up to and admire him, seems bizarre today.
Unsurprisingly, his father had a great influence on our Theodore Roosevelt, not least because his father died of colon cancer just as he came of age, thus forming an abstract model to which Roosevelt could aspire, but which was fixed and did not comment further on his life. Roosevelt inherited quite a bit of money, but not enough to live lavishly, and until later life he didn’t make much money himself (which is why his father told him that if he was not going to earn money, he “must even things up by not spending it”). He didn’t, therefore, live lavishly, but he did spend more than he should have, resulting in (like Winston Churchill) the frequent need to support his family in part by writing for the popular market.
Still, despite not oozing money, Roosevelt was able to afford benefits to his work that are essentially incomprehensible today. Chief among those was continual attention by servants and other servitors, allowing him to focus on his work. He had preternatural drive and discipline, and worked long hours, but turning that into his volume of output was only made possible by being relieved by others of having to do anything that might distract him. (Of course, it’s a good thing he lived before the Internet, the telephone, and other such diversions.) Morris does not emphasize this benefit to Roosevelt, perhaps figuring it’s obvious, but it shows up on nearly every page, and was continual from Roosevelt’s earliest life. For example, in a letter home during his freshman year at Harvard (where he snobbily refused to associate with any but the upper-crust students), Roosevelt casually refers to how his “scout” had “made the fire and blacked the boots,” and then called him to breakfast, prepared, naturally, by others. The rest of each day went the same. Glimpses of how other, less monied peers lived show up occasionally—Morris quotes “an old friend, separated from the Roosevelts by lesser means,” when he sees Roosevelt leaving the opera, “I remember thinking what an enormous start he had over youths like myself, whose daily bread depended on their daily effort.” Yes, Roosevelt accomplished an enormous amount, starting at an early age, but that was made possible by his circumstances as well as by his character—and even the rich today don’t have those same advantages, even if they are internally compelled to produce value, rather than spending their days posting on the Rich Kids of Instagram. I sometimes look at myself, now well into my forties, and wonder what I would have done with my life if I had not spent the past twenty-five years grinding away to become wealthy, only then turning my mind, somewhat, to other possible productive pursuits. Of course, maybe what I have done is enough, and presumably I still have a month or two left in which to do something maximally useful, plus maybe I just would have been a druggie if born rich and served hand and foot. Who’s to say? As Aslan told Lucy, “Child, no one is ever told what would have been.”
Speaking of output, I did not know that the first book Roosevelt wrote is still regarded as a classic and relevant—"The Naval War of 1812", which he published when he was twenty-three. It is exhaustive, and I found most relevant of all his stated reason for writing it: “[T]o learn anything from the past it is necessary to know, as near as may be, the exact truth—if only from the narrowest motives.” Given that most of what we are offered today is mutated histories, in which ideology is served at the expense of the exact truth, such a philosophy is something that would be well worth recapturing as the general rule. His later books, though, are regarded mostly as hackwork, not false but fairly pedestrian and bombastic. Morris read and commented on them all, coming to the charitable conclusion that their main worth is illuminating Roosevelt himself, given his frequent habit of really talking about himself when he’s supposedly commenting on his biographical object.
Roosevelt was a constant risk-taker, who exemplified (and pushed) masculinity, something that everyone knows what it is, since it’s primarily biological, but today our cultural elite denies exists other than as a social construct, usually termed pernicious. Roosevelt’s life, in many ways, refutes the silly idea of masculinity (and femininity) being a construct in the same way that Samuel Johnson, when told that one could not prove matter existed, vigorously kicked a rock and exclaimed “I refute it thus!” Examples of Roosevelt’s over-the-top masculinity abound, including his repeatedly risking his life by riding scores of miles through blizzards in the Badlands, chasing for weeks down an icy river in the Dakota Territory cutthroats who had stolen his small boat, and his pushing through frequent severe ailments. But my favorite example is when, during his Dakota Territory career, he had a business dispute with a local man named Paddock, a known killer who had shot several men. Roosevelt was told that Paddock was threatening him behind his back. So he rode to Paddock’s house, knocked on the door, and when Paddock appeared, rasped “I understand that you have threatened to kill me on sight. I have come over to see when you want to begin the killing.” Paddock backed down—but really, who among us would be so manly today? Not me, even in my younger, more aggressive days. Still, we could use a lot more of this masculinity today, rather than Pajama Boy and an effeminate, lift-up-your-skirts-and-shriek terror of mythical “toxic masculinity,” which is a contradiction in terms, when masculinity is properly defined—though the deliberate conflation of masculinity with what, in an earlier time, would simply have been called “vice” or “evil” is the entire point of the myth, if you think about it.
And Roosevelt constantly pushed masculinity as a tonic for others and society, too, as well as exemplifying it nearly to the point of caricature. Not everybody responded favorably. It certainly didn’t raise Henry James’s already low opinion of Roosevelt that Roosevelt thought he had “delicate, effeminate sensitivities” and was a “miserable little snob” who, “because he finds he cannot play a man’s part among men, goes [to England] where he will be sheltered from the winds that harden stouter souls.” (On balance, though, Roosevelt was right, as you will discover if you subject yourself today to any of James’s novels.) Roosevelt was only too happy to prescribe a heaping dose of masculinity for anything that ailed any man, but it seems unlikely anyone took him up on it to the degree he probably thought necessary.
While I hesitate to make the comparison, because it is grossly unfair to Roosevelt and implies a wholly undeserved elevation of Trump, it is fascinating to see that the chattering classes often saw Roosevelt in the same way as Trump is viewed. Woodrow Wilson called Roosevelt “the most dangerous man of the age.” Mark Twain called him “clearly insane.” Luminaries like Henry Adams and Henry James regarded him with distaste. A prominent newspaper editor said “he is the most dangerous foe to human liberty that has ever set foot on American soil.” But like Trump, Roosevelt simply ignored these criticisms, and charged forward, his default stance for his entire life. He was blessed by good luck, he had discipline (even if he was very quirky in his personality), and he did not face the unified opposition of the dominant classes like Trump does, so my guess is that Roosevelt’s strategy worked a lot better for him than its rough analogue will work for Trump (though early returns are looking pretty good for Trump). Nonetheless, it’s worth noting that men of action do best when ignoring the caviling of effete intellectuals, who wish they were men of action, as every man does, but just can never seem to manage it.
The only truly odd thing I noted about this book is that there are repeated glancing references not only to the large, extended Roosevelt family, but to its great power, and to its influence over Theodore Roosevelt at important junctures. The family had been wealthy and prominent for generations, so its relevance to New York society is not surprising. What is surprising is that we never get any remotely clear picture of the extended family. We don’t get any details at all, not even how many people were considered to be “in” the family. I suppose that would have made the book longer, but the reader is mystified by the occasional references to “rich uncles” or “cousins” who have important opinions and whose good offices need to be solicited, or to the “resentment of family elders against Theodore” when the scandal of his drunken, adulterous brother became public, where neither the “uncles” nor the “elders” are ever specified, and no further mention is made of them.
Roosevelt was not an ideologue; he was too close to real humans for that. He criticized utopians from Marx to Tolstoy to Henry George—anyone who “believes that at this stage of the world’s progress it is possible to make everyone happy by an immense social revolution, just as other enthusiasts of a similar mental caliber believe in the possibility of constructing a perpetual-motion machine.” Not that raw populism was any better. The vox populi was “the voice of the devil, or what is still worse, the voice of a fool.” He was an populist elitist, in a sense—he was all for the people, if they were first suitably led and guided, with their wants and choices channeled, if and to the extent their wants and choices lacked objective merit when rated on universal standards. But Roosevelt was all about the merit—other than limitations caused by merit, he wanted no limitations at all on people’s ability to participate and achieve. Thus, he wanted to extend the franchise to women, when that was not a popular position. And, rarely for his time. he was strongly opposed to racial discrimination in America, and more broadly opposed to the belief that other races, in America or anywhere, were biologically inferior, again when the opposite was received wisdom. He certainly thought, with good reason, that other cultures were inferior, but firmly believed that any culture, in any place, in time, with guidance, could climb up to be just as good as American culture, and probably would, given time.
This approach led, usually, to a clear-eyed grasp of the realities of cultural clashes. Roosevelt described the result of frontier warfare as “where brutal and reckless frontiersmen are brought into contact with a set of treacherous, vengeful, and fiendishly cruel savages a long series of outrages by both sides is sure to follow.” James Cozzens, in "The Earth is Weeping," describes the Indian Wars with more detail and less overt judgment, but really, both men see those wars the same. As Morris summarizes Roosevelt’s thought, “Any black or red man who could win admission to ‘the fellowship of the doers’ was superior to the white man who failed.” By the same token, any culture, if it tried hard enough, could be “as intellectual as the Athenian.” Accustomed as we are to the stupid idea that oppression, real or imagined, dictates outcome regardless of “doing,” rather than merit and hard work overcoming any real oppression just as it can overcome any of the other limitations every person faces, as reality tells us, this approach is a breath of fresh air. On the other hand, Roosevelt’s cultural diagnoses were not perfect—he also thought that the aristocratic class in America would decline in relative numbers, but standards would be maintained, because of the “transmission of acquired characters” to the rest of America. Looking around, it hasn’t exactly worked out that way, as Charles Murray will be happy to detail for you, or J. D. Vance.
Roosevelt was primarily, by choice, a politician. Being a national politician was very different back then, not because the issues were different (they are in every time), nor because the political class was more virtuous (it’s always been dumb and vicious—it’s the ruling class that’s deteriorated), but because the whole country was relevant. To take one of many examples, Roosevelt assiduously cultivated William Allen White, “editor of a powerful Midwestern newspaper.” Today, to say those words is to snicker at the oxymoron embedded in them. Similarly, at every political convention, many kingmakers were men from places like Cleveland and Indianapolis. It was true in less obvious ways, too—senators were still elected by their state legislatures, rather than by popular vote, so their election was not subject, as it is today and increasingly so, to corrupting influence from outside the state. Our modern system, where only wealthy people on the coasts are relevant to most national political decisions, is much less healthy than the system Roosevelt worked in, where the national political ecosystem was composed of people in every sizeable community in the entire nation.
In any case, in his political life, Roosevelt had two main political obsessions, only one of which is really associated in the public mind with Roosevelt today. That one was American expansionism—a variety of Manifest Destiny, but since the frontier was closed during Roosevelt’s youth, a Manifest Destiny focused outward, to Cuba and the Philippines, with Canada and Mexico occasionally getting a baleful glance. I imagine that the average educated person, if asked to characterize Roosevelt in one word, would probably say something like “imperialist” or “jingo,” being quite familiar with that aspect of the Rooseveltian program.
But the second obsession, and one which dominated Roosevelt’s early career, was so-called civil service reform, and that is largely forgotten today. At the time, this meant improving the quality of government workers by various changes to the system by which they were hired, chief among them ending the spoils system, whereby government jobs at all levels were handed out to political supporters upon a change in administration, and those who held those jobs under a prior administration were shown the door. The proposed alternatives mostly involved competitive examinations for place, as well as permanent appointments—i.e., choosing on objective merit and breaking the tie to a particular political party that turnover permitted. Roosevelt referred to his view, and of his allies, as those “whose only care is to secure a pure and honest government.” This optimistic view made sense at the time, for no doubt the unseemly scramble by untalented men for sinecures was an affront to those seeking efficient and impartial government. At that time, legislative bribery was extremely common, and the idea of bureaucrats who would be immune to bribery was also attractive. This was long before the explosion of bureaucracy detonated by Woodrow Wilson and the Progressives, and long before the corruptions of leftist ideology took hold in the imagination of the ruling classes, to be implemented by the unaccountable agents of those ruling classes, with ill effects far exceeding mere bribery.
Roosevelt was very successful in making great strides toward his goals, which were then furthered by others. Unfortunately, however, the ultimate result is the opposite of “pure and honest government.” What we have today is a monstrous federal bureaucracy, the administrative state, wholly an aggressive wing of the most leftist elements of the Democratic Party, permanently entrenched and ever-expanding, with no accountability to anyone at all except their ideological trench mates. And that bureaucracy is ever increasing, not only in numbers, but in power, in the grip it has on ordinary Americans, and in the gloating enjoyment it takes in grinding those Americans, in general and in particular those who oppose its leftist dictates, into the dirt. Roosevelt would be appalled and dismayed at the horror to which his idealism contributed (though, certainly, Wilson and the Progressives bear more of the responsibility).
[Review continues as first comment.]
August 24, 2020
I had wanted to read this book for some time and finally grabbed the audiobook from my library. It was not until I was on the second disc that I realized with disappointment that it was an abridgment. But I got over my disappointment because the narrator was superb and the pacing perfect. I always prefer the full work, but I see now why an abridgment is appealing. Still, I'd like to read or listen to the next two in the trilogy unabridged going forward.
February 19, 2015
http://bestpresidentialbios.com/2015/...
“The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt” is the first in a three-volume series by Edmund Morris about the life of the 26th president. Published in 1979, this Pulitzer Prize-winning volume remains widely-read and extremely popular. Morris is also well known for his controversial “Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan” and is currently working on a biography of Thomas Edison.
This first volume covers Roosevelt’s pre-presidency thoroughly and with great vigor, beginning with his frail but stunningly precocious youth. Coverage is no less attentive as Theodore attends Harvard, enters politics as a New York state assemblyman and later heads west to become an ardent cowboy and rancher in the Dakotas.
With a piercing eye for detail, and dramatics, Morris documents Roosevelt’s return to politics as a reform-minded public servant, first as a civil service commissioner and later as a New York City police commissioner. The narrative is no less thrilling during Roosevelt’s outspoken service as Assistant Secretary of the Navy or when he leads the “Rough Riders” in Cuba during war with Spain. The action moderates only slightly when he becomes Governor of New York and, soon thereafter, McKinley’s Vice President.
To suggest that Morris admires his subject might be an understatement; he clearly views “TR” as an irresistibly compelling subject and portrays him with a charming reverence. But while some argue Morris is responsible for Roosevelt’s unjustified canonization, any hyperbole seems to reside only at the periphery. And Roosevelt himself supplied more than enough raw material for others to reach the same conclusions as Morris.
With 741 pages, “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt” is both detailed and lengthy. Unlike many popular narratives it does not effortlessly carry the reader downstream on a river of elegant prose; the text is sometimes awkward and unremitting. But Morris’s ability to colorfully describe a scene is remarkable. And even when sentences initially seem clunky or inelegant, they usually prove perfect in hindsight.
The least exciting part of this volume may have been its most reflective and thoughtful: Morris’s analysis of Roosevelt’s extensive body of published works. Readers new to Roosevelt’s life will be surprised to learn he authored nearly three-dozen books during his lifetime, including one which became required reading on all US naval vessels.
While I found this part of the discussion comparatively unexciting, Morris is too conscientious a biographer to allow the rush and blur of TR’s life to speed the story past this examination. The resulting literary and philosophical insights reveal aspects of Roosevelt’s character (and the evolution of his personality) which even Roosevelt himself may have never considered.
Overall, this first volume to Edmund Morris’s series reviewing Theodore Roosevelt’s life is rewarding, fabulously detailed and insightful. Impatient readers, and those accustomed to effortless popular histories, may find it too lengthy. And at times Morris does seem too deferential to this larger-than-life figure. But as a comprehensive and fascinating introduction to Teddy Roosevelt, I can hardly imagine a better experience.
Overall rating: 4¼ stars
“The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt” is the first in a three-volume series by Edmund Morris about the life of the 26th president. Published in 1979, this Pulitzer Prize-winning volume remains widely-read and extremely popular. Morris is also well known for his controversial “Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan” and is currently working on a biography of Thomas Edison.
This first volume covers Roosevelt’s pre-presidency thoroughly and with great vigor, beginning with his frail but stunningly precocious youth. Coverage is no less attentive as Theodore attends Harvard, enters politics as a New York state assemblyman and later heads west to become an ardent cowboy and rancher in the Dakotas.
With a piercing eye for detail, and dramatics, Morris documents Roosevelt’s return to politics as a reform-minded public servant, first as a civil service commissioner and later as a New York City police commissioner. The narrative is no less thrilling during Roosevelt’s outspoken service as Assistant Secretary of the Navy or when he leads the “Rough Riders” in Cuba during war with Spain. The action moderates only slightly when he becomes Governor of New York and, soon thereafter, McKinley’s Vice President.
To suggest that Morris admires his subject might be an understatement; he clearly views “TR” as an irresistibly compelling subject and portrays him with a charming reverence. But while some argue Morris is responsible for Roosevelt’s unjustified canonization, any hyperbole seems to reside only at the periphery. And Roosevelt himself supplied more than enough raw material for others to reach the same conclusions as Morris.
With 741 pages, “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt” is both detailed and lengthy. Unlike many popular narratives it does not effortlessly carry the reader downstream on a river of elegant prose; the text is sometimes awkward and unremitting. But Morris’s ability to colorfully describe a scene is remarkable. And even when sentences initially seem clunky or inelegant, they usually prove perfect in hindsight.
The least exciting part of this volume may have been its most reflective and thoughtful: Morris’s analysis of Roosevelt’s extensive body of published works. Readers new to Roosevelt’s life will be surprised to learn he authored nearly three-dozen books during his lifetime, including one which became required reading on all US naval vessels.
While I found this part of the discussion comparatively unexciting, Morris is too conscientious a biographer to allow the rush and blur of TR’s life to speed the story past this examination. The resulting literary and philosophical insights reveal aspects of Roosevelt’s character (and the evolution of his personality) which even Roosevelt himself may have never considered.
Overall, this first volume to Edmund Morris’s series reviewing Theodore Roosevelt’s life is rewarding, fabulously detailed and insightful. Impatient readers, and those accustomed to effortless popular histories, may find it too lengthy. And at times Morris does seem too deferential to this larger-than-life figure. But as a comprehensive and fascinating introduction to Teddy Roosevelt, I can hardly imagine a better experience.
Overall rating: 4¼ stars
September 12, 2011
It's hard to separate my admiration for Theodore Roosevelt from my appreciation for Edmund Morris's great biography. Theodore is an unexpectedly remarkable and fascinating individual. Edmund paints a compelling picture of Teddy with his boyish enthusiasms, boundless energy, magnetic personality, odd speaking style (at least for much of his early career), and top flight intellect. Roosevelt was a committed amateur biologist who wrote one of his many books on the big game animals of the west. He wrote a number of biographies of political figures emphasizing his own theory of manifest destiny for America. Teddy could knock out a book in a few months -- with his photographic memory he remembered everything he read and could synthesize that information and dictate a manuscript without slowing to consult his notes. This same intellect made him a formidable raconteur and dinner table conversationalist. He was known for inviting experts on history, philosophy, religion, or science to dinner and then dominating the conversation by telling his guest all about the area of his guest's specialty. (But the favorable impression left by so much knowledge was probably somewhat tarnished by his inability to pause and listen). Roosevelt's eastern "dude" image was softened by his cowboy status having been a deputy sheriff in North Dakota and bringing three desperados to justice. His one unsuccessful attempt at business (at least financially, he had a great time doing it), was establishing a cattle ranch near Dickinson, ND, where Janie once taught school. He led his cowboy rough riders regiment in the Spanish American War and almost won the congressional medal of honor for leading the charge up San Juan Hill. By the way, as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, he did more than almost anyone (with the possible exception of the Spanish) to trigger the Spanish American War.
This is the best book I have read this year. And maybe last year, too.
This is the best book I have read this year. And maybe last year, too.
April 13, 2016
In the early afternoon of September 13, 1901, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was eating lunch on his descent from the top of Mount Marcy where he no doubt had contemplated his future not only in politics but in life. Now just hours after possibly concluding that his political fortunes would descend as he would from the mountain top, a ranger baring a yellow telegram message came into view that would mark the end of "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" not in political obscurity but it's mountain top.
Edmund Morris ended the first volume of his biography of Theodore Roosevelt on the cusp of becoming President of the United States after detailing Roosevelt's life to that point from his birth in October 1858. Along the way, Morris shows the development of Roosevelt's views from youth to maturity, in life and in politics. While descriptive and showing fascination with his subject, Morris does not gush upon Roosevelt forgiveness when confronted with demeaning views, speeches, and writings that to the 21st century would raise our eyebrows.
The detail Morris shows in this biography on almost a daily basis bring Roosevelt to life, first as a unhealthy child who fascination for learning about the natural world was cultivated by his father who also encourage him to build up his body as well as his mind. Roosevelt's transformation from a fashionable dandy undergraduate at Harvard yearn for reform in politics into the political Rough Rider that was about to assume the Presidency is a long process that Morris shows the reader so well, the reader doesn't realize it until almost the end of the volume.
From seeing Roosevelt at the height of his power in the prologue then see his rise, both slow and meteoric, through the epilogue, Morris hooks the reader in and makes them eagerly anticipate what will be seen on the next page. I can not recommend enough "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" by Edmund Morris to every student of history and to anyone who loves political biographies.
Edmund Morris ended the first volume of his biography of Theodore Roosevelt on the cusp of becoming President of the United States after detailing Roosevelt's life to that point from his birth in October 1858. Along the way, Morris shows the development of Roosevelt's views from youth to maturity, in life and in politics. While descriptive and showing fascination with his subject, Morris does not gush upon Roosevelt forgiveness when confronted with demeaning views, speeches, and writings that to the 21st century would raise our eyebrows.
The detail Morris shows in this biography on almost a daily basis bring Roosevelt to life, first as a unhealthy child who fascination for learning about the natural world was cultivated by his father who also encourage him to build up his body as well as his mind. Roosevelt's transformation from a fashionable dandy undergraduate at Harvard yearn for reform in politics into the political Rough Rider that was about to assume the Presidency is a long process that Morris shows the reader so well, the reader doesn't realize it until almost the end of the volume.
From seeing Roosevelt at the height of his power in the prologue then see his rise, both slow and meteoric, through the epilogue, Morris hooks the reader in and makes them eagerly anticipate what will be seen on the next page. I can not recommend enough "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" by Edmund Morris to every student of history and to anyone who loves political biographies.
August 31, 2009
I was anxious to read a biography on Theodore Roosevelt and did some research about which one to choose. Morris's work seemed the most thorough and with a length over 750 pages, I initially assumed that it covered Roosevelt's entire life. Ha! A man as exciting, ambitious, and fascinating as Theodore Roosevelt needs so much more than one volume. This tome chronicles his childhood, young adulthood and ultimately his rise to the presidency of the United States of America. Morris continues his study of Roosevelt's presidency in "Theodore Rex" (I've already ordered it and am looking forward to reading more about this amazing man).
Between Roosevelt's exciting life and Morris's thoroughly researched, well-written style, "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" is gripping and fascinating. It's long but I couldn't wait for the kids to go to bed at night so that I could read.
Roosevelt, who was his own best promoter, LIVED life and had an interesting one. He was a sickly child but had a delightful childhood with parents who loved him and indulged his desire to learn. His young adulthood was filled with intense love and tragedy. Occasionally prone to depression and having lost his fortune, Roosevelt battles onward with work, study and fun (in the form of tests of physical endurance).
He is honest, moral and uncorrupt. He sees life as black and white and brings that background to the political table. His rise to the presidency is unusual and quick. He was not without his setbacks and failures but he never stopped grinning and rarely stopped to sleep.
Between Roosevelt's exciting life and Morris's thoroughly researched, well-written style, "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" is gripping and fascinating. It's long but I couldn't wait for the kids to go to bed at night so that I could read.
Roosevelt, who was his own best promoter, LIVED life and had an interesting one. He was a sickly child but had a delightful childhood with parents who loved him and indulged his desire to learn. His young adulthood was filled with intense love and tragedy. Occasionally prone to depression and having lost his fortune, Roosevelt battles onward with work, study and fun (in the form of tests of physical endurance).
He is honest, moral and uncorrupt. He sees life as black and white and brings that background to the political table. His rise to the presidency is unusual and quick. He was not without his setbacks and failures but he never stopped grinning and rarely stopped to sleep.
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