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4.44 AVERAGE
4.44 AVERAGE
This is the first book of Edmund Morris' three-volume biography of Theodore Roosevelt. I have read a couple of other biographies of TR, and knew of this one but resisted picking it up because...well, it's three books! Shame on me for avoiding it. This is an astonishingly good examination of TR's life and experiences. Well-researched, well-written, thorough, and for the most part, dispassionate. Morris is clearly a TR fan, but he is not reluctant to examine TR's weaknesses and faults as well as his strengths, thus humanizing this seemingly superhuman individual. Well done, Mr. Morris!
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Vivid, gripping, erudite, wry, and immediate. You won’t find 780 pages of a carefully researched biography that fly by faster or hold your attention as thrillingly—all the way through the magnificent final scene. The Roosevelt that comes fairly leaping out of this book is all energy and charisma and bravery—a Tasmanian devil made human, a whirling dervish of a frontiersman, sportsman, hunter, Harvard boy, conservationist, amateur boxer, naval strategist, municipal reformer, scholar of French and German, historian of the West, dandy, military hero, hawkish proponent of American force and imperial expansion, and, ultimately, fiercely independent and ambitious politician with a prescient grasp on the threat that the massive concentration of corporate wealth and power posed to the American experiment. An incredible, entertaining, and deeply edifying read.
Very detailed history of TR's rise.
This book took me several months to complete as I had to put it down for periods of time and return to it later. This does not mean that it was too boring or tedious but that i knew I had part two and three of this biography to read and didn't want to spend 6 months to a year reading about TR alone. This book provides a lot of detail on his early life and early political career. TR was a man who tried his hand at many things over the course of his first 40 plus years. He seems to have had a lot of energy to always be trying something new. I am looking forward to the sequel biography that describes his presidency.
This book took me several months to complete as I had to put it down for periods of time and return to it later. This does not mean that it was too boring or tedious but that i knew I had part two and three of this biography to read and didn't want to spend 6 months to a year reading about TR alone. This book provides a lot of detail on his early life and early political career. TR was a man who tried his hand at many things over the course of his first 40 plus years. He seems to have had a lot of energy to always be trying something new. I am looking forward to the sequel biography that describes his presidency.
The meteoric rise of Teddy Rosevelt was a marvel to behold. From asthmatic youth and aristocrat to frontiersman, rancher, and hunter to candid and publicity loving politician, Teddy was certainly a man of many talents and much ambition.
adventurous
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
slow-paced
Simply the best biography I've ever read or am likely to read. Morris has gone through absolutely painstaking detail to recount Roosevelt's early years down to his daily routines. The book is so thoroughly researched that hardly three lines go by without an end note citing sources and further elaboration. And yet, in spite of that erudition and scholarly work the tale is eminently readable, gripping even. Morris's account is balanced and fair as far as biography goes, but, that being said, it's hard not to fall in love with Theodore Roosevelt. He's larger than life, undeniably charismatic, genuine, impossibly good (a real life Clark Kent), and profoundly hard working. Listening to Morris relate his life is inspiring. Roosevelt had a way of conquering the goals, no matter how small, he set for himself. He poured his life into things that he believed in, rightly or wrongly, and in spite of his occasional missteps, his political accumen served him well. I think the most amazing thing for me was learning that some of the apocryphal stories about TR were actually one hundred percent true, corroborated by multiple sources (including those that typically did not care for him).
Morris's prose is engaging and he has a flair for the dramatic that matches his subject. The early stages of his life match nicely with some verses related to King Olaf of Norway and it is around such similarities that Morris structures the unfolding of Roosevelt's youth. Chapters are well divided, thematically and chronologically, and there's a healthy dose of historical, literary and political analysis that pulls you back from wide-eyed and blinding admiration of Roosevelt himself. But even then! Morris's frank discussions of the lasting literary value of some of Roosevelt's historical endeavors still leave a lot to be admired about the man himself. Again, the story of Roosevelt's life, in all of it's fine detail, cannot be anything but inspirational. This is literally a man who forged himself through hard work, steadfastness to his principles and ideals, and, let's admit, a little luck here and there. The bulk of the book doesn't detract from its readability at all. Details are utterly engrossing and even drab lines from TR's correspondence and diaries serve to give the narrative character, inserting you into his life. At times, I found this book more compelling and page-turning than the best of my favorite fiction. You root for Roosevelt, feel ashamed and let-down when his ego gets the better of him, and more than anything, you find yourself wishing you could just shake the man's hand.
Morris's resolution is a bit of a tease, and it definitely sets up nicely for the second volume that covers Roosevelt's life during his presidential years. I plan to start that immediately. Do yourself a favor and read The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. It describes a watershed era in this nation's history, how shameful American politics was and can be, and more importantly, how it should work, as embodied by the most compelling person to ever reside in the White House.
Morris's prose is engaging and he has a flair for the dramatic that matches his subject. The early stages of his life match nicely with some verses related to King Olaf of Norway and it is around such similarities that Morris structures the unfolding of Roosevelt's youth. Chapters are well divided, thematically and chronologically, and there's a healthy dose of historical, literary and political analysis that pulls you back from wide-eyed and blinding admiration of Roosevelt himself. But even then! Morris's frank discussions of the lasting literary value of some of Roosevelt's historical endeavors still leave a lot to be admired about the man himself. Again, the story of Roosevelt's life, in all of it's fine detail, cannot be anything but inspirational. This is literally a man who forged himself through hard work, steadfastness to his principles and ideals, and, let's admit, a little luck here and there. The bulk of the book doesn't detract from its readability at all. Details are utterly engrossing and even drab lines from TR's correspondence and diaries serve to give the narrative character, inserting you into his life. At times, I found this book more compelling and page-turning than the best of my favorite fiction. You root for Roosevelt, feel ashamed and let-down when his ego gets the better of him, and more than anything, you find yourself wishing you could just shake the man's hand.
Morris's resolution is a bit of a tease, and it definitely sets up nicely for the second volume that covers Roosevelt's life during his presidential years. I plan to start that immediately. Do yourself a favor and read The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. It describes a watershed era in this nation's history, how shameful American politics was and can be, and more importantly, how it should work, as embodied by the most compelling person to ever reside in the White House.
Short Review: This really is good. It is more of a 4.5 star book than 4, but not quite a 5. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt is very readable. It runs from his birth until the assassination of McKinley. There are two more books to round out the trilogy of biographies.
I was surprised when I looked it up to see that this biography is nearly 40 years old. It does not feel at all dated.
Roosevelt is a fascinating character, although with full of blind spots and quite self centered. But also with enormous reserves of energy and drive.
The two main weaknesses in the biography was, especially in the younger years, to be a bit too cute about what Roosevelt would become. We are reading about him at the end of his life knowing what he would become and that feels like it too strongly influenced how the discussion of how he grew up and developed.
Second, this may be about the era the book was written, but while there is a lot of discussion about Roosevelt's personal morality and ethics, there was virtually no discussion about religious or other motivations about where that morality and ethics were derived from and why it was important to him. The only reference I can think of to Roosevelt's specific religious life was a reference to him being married in a Unitarian church and that he was a sunday school teacher for a while. But I have no idea whether he was a unitarian or a more orthodox Christian or if faith was even important to him.
Maybe his religious motivation and ethics were actually unimportant, but the it feels like knowing more about that would have given some insights into his blind spots. (He was for instance relatively progressive on issues of women's rights and rights for african americans but not for Native Americans until later in life and not for non-Americans, for instance the Cubans that he was relating to during the Spanish American war.
My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/theodore-roosevelt/
I was surprised when I looked it up to see that this biography is nearly 40 years old. It does not feel at all dated.
Roosevelt is a fascinating character, although with full of blind spots and quite self centered. But also with enormous reserves of energy and drive.
The two main weaknesses in the biography was, especially in the younger years, to be a bit too cute about what Roosevelt would become. We are reading about him at the end of his life knowing what he would become and that feels like it too strongly influenced how the discussion of how he grew up and developed.
Second, this may be about the era the book was written, but while there is a lot of discussion about Roosevelt's personal morality and ethics, there was virtually no discussion about religious or other motivations about where that morality and ethics were derived from and why it was important to him. The only reference I can think of to Roosevelt's specific religious life was a reference to him being married in a Unitarian church and that he was a sunday school teacher for a while. But I have no idea whether he was a unitarian or a more orthodox Christian or if faith was even important to him.
Maybe his religious motivation and ethics were actually unimportant, but the it feels like knowing more about that would have given some insights into his blind spots. (He was for instance relatively progressive on issues of women's rights and rights for african americans but not for Native Americans until later in life and not for non-Americans, for instance the Cubans that he was relating to during the Spanish American war.
My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/theodore-roosevelt/