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dtab62's review
3.0
Brands is among my favorite authors, his books on Franklin and Jackson are the definitive biographies of them. But when it comes to Teddy Roosevelt, Edmund Morris' trilogy is as good as it gets. If you want to stick to a single volume then T.R. is the book for you. But if you're going to get in deep enough to read a 900 page book, I'd highly recommend going the extra miles and reading the Morris trilogy.
duparker's review against another edition
4.0
Brands writes strong and intelligent history books. Overall, I really enjoy his style of humanizing but still keeping the awestruck aspects of great leaders and their times. TR is a fascinating figure, and in my mind the model for how Republicans should act.
marymagdalena's review against another edition
3.75
i don't think it was the author's intentions, but it's a very damning biography of theodore roosevelt purely just by laying out the facts of his life and his thoughts and feelings on things.
mcmulroy's review
4.0
A good biography of a man who did many things in his life. Read for POTUS book club.
spinnerroweok's review
4.0
Is it possible to write a bad book on Theodore Roosevelt? I think it would be very hard to do. However, I must say that I am glad this is not my first exposure to TR. (I started with the Edmund Morris 3 volume set.) Brands' TR is less Herculean than others. Brands offers a lot of analysis and cuts through TR's attempts to write his own history. Lost is the wow factor that I found in Morris' book. Also lost is a lot of the detail as this is a one volume work vs. three. It almost felt like a summary. Brands presents a more sober look at Roosevelt. Brands also provides lots of analysis. He tries to delve into the mind of TR. What seems to be missing is a lot of TRs relationships. Again, this is primarily due to the length of the book. On the whole, I enjoyed this book, but would not recommend it as a first read on the most fascinating man to hold the office of president.
zakcebulski's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
4.5
This was my first read of anything by H.W. Brands. I found this book absolutely fantastic.
From the point of view of U.S. Presidents, I find that when I think of my favorite, or, the one I think is most fascinating, it is always T.R. Theodore Roosevelt.
To me, this man was truly the epitome of larger than life. He lived more lives than 10 people in his 60 years on this planet. Reading through so much of his life was immensely enlightening and informative.
This biography is an absolute masterclass in the major plot points which made T.R. who he was. Though Brands does not delve in to the minute of his life too much- this book is already over 900 pages long- he still describes the man's life in a very well told way. I think that the small pockets of writings from T.R. directly really help to illustrate him as he grows and were a fantastic inclusion to this read. Reading them, coupled with Brands' amazing talent for writing, help to convey the feelings which T.R. was feeling at the time- whether it be elation, sorrow, happiness, heartbreak, bleakness, rage, disgust- all are painted to the reader in such a way that those more empathetic people may feel the emotions themselves.
This is a story of a hyper-complex man. A man who had many sides to him, who had beliefs that would surely, without question, clash with the beliefs of today's political and social climate. What I must commend him for is his sticking to his diction. When T.R. said he was going to do something, he did it, or, he gave his best effort to do so.
He certainly made mistakes, the Brownsville Affair, his pathological pursuit of war, his ego trip that led the U.S. to being given Woodrow Wilson- these are all things that would be a stain on any politician's record. And, what I appreciate most about reading this biography, is that Brands does not shy away from these things. Nor does he uplift the good things that T.R. did- his immense work with conservation, the Panama Canal, strengthening relations with Japan (and his for the time very progressive view of Asian countries), building up the Navy. I think Brands strikes an absolutely perfect field of... neutrality- of objectivity. He presents the facts and that is all, he does not inject in his opinion on anything. This, I feel, is very difficult to do well, and I think that Brands knocks it out of the park.
It is hard for me to write about this book because I feel myself wanting to comment on the events of T.R's life in a way that would impact the rating of this book. So, I will not do that. I will rather comment that I think that this book was absolutely astounding and one which I feel has led me to want to read more work from H.W. Brands.