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4.44 AVERAGE
4.44 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
This is a pretty huge book, so the fact that I read it in three days is testament to just how good it is. I've never come across a biography that was as readable and engrossing as fiction before. Of course, it helps that Theodore Roosevelt was such a larger-than-life character that any biography about him would be exciting and gripping, but one mustn't detract from the skill of the author. This is an excellent, truly excellent book. I'm just glad that this is the first in a trilogy, so I have the enjoyment of two more hopefully equally as good volumes to read.
This volume covers the years from TR's birth up to McKinley's assassination in 1901, which ensured TR's accession to the Presidency. That TR was headed for the White House seems inevitable when you read this book, although I'm sure no-one at the time expected him to assume office in the way that he did, and I'm positive TR himself would have regretted his path to the highest office in the land as much as anyone.
It's almost hard to believe, reading this book, that anyone like Theodore Roosevelt could be real outside the pages of a novel. Such an immense personality, such charisma and magnetism and energy. Whether he is battling corruption in the New York Police Department or tracking buffalo in the West, charging up San Juan Hill in Cuba with his Rough Riders or climbing mountains before breakfast for fun, writing books in a matter of weeks or single-handedly preparing the nation for war, his personality fairly leaps off the page.
What it must have been like, to experience politics with a man like Theodore Roosevelt on the scene. Modern politicians pale laughably in comparison. Hell, everyone seems to pale in comparison. I'm just glad that this book is every bit worthy of the man himself.
This volume covers the years from TR's birth up to McKinley's assassination in 1901, which ensured TR's accession to the Presidency. That TR was headed for the White House seems inevitable when you read this book, although I'm sure no-one at the time expected him to assume office in the way that he did, and I'm positive TR himself would have regretted his path to the highest office in the land as much as anyone.
It's almost hard to believe, reading this book, that anyone like Theodore Roosevelt could be real outside the pages of a novel. Such an immense personality, such charisma and magnetism and energy. Whether he is battling corruption in the New York Police Department or tracking buffalo in the West, charging up San Juan Hill in Cuba with his Rough Riders or climbing mountains before breakfast for fun, writing books in a matter of weeks or single-handedly preparing the nation for war, his personality fairly leaps off the page.
What it must have been like, to experience politics with a man like Theodore Roosevelt on the scene. Modern politicians pale laughably in comparison. Hell, everyone seems to pale in comparison. I'm just glad that this book is every bit worthy of the man himself.
adventurous
emotional
informative
medium-paced
I've had this book on my "to-read" list for quite a while. I think I bought a copy for my parents years ago, and it would stare at me every time I went to visit. Once I even started it when I was home, but I left it. One day I re-appropriated it and brought it home, but I never read it (thanks onslaught of presbyopia!)
I bought an ebook copy with an Amazon gift card and put it back on my list.
Theodore Roosevelt was a dynamo. I've never read about anyone so much in motion. And the real amazing part of it is how much of that motion was purpose-driven. He really didn't like to stand still. He also was remarkably resilient and able to make the best out of some really craptacular situations.
The most remarkable thing about the latter half of the book is the remarkable trajectory his life took in the late 1890s. Between 1895 to 1901 (six years!) he went from Federal Civil Service Commissioner to NYC Police Commissioner, to Assistant Secretary of the Navy, to Colonel of the "Rough Riders," to New York State Governor, to Vice-President, to President. Talk about "sleeping on an incline."
Looking forward to reading the other two volumes, but TR and I need a break right now. He is best enjoyed in small doses.
I bought an ebook copy with an Amazon gift card and put it back on my list.
Theodore Roosevelt was a dynamo. I've never read about anyone so much in motion. And the real amazing part of it is how much of that motion was purpose-driven. He really didn't like to stand still. He also was remarkably resilient and able to make the best out of some really craptacular situations.
The most remarkable thing about the latter half of the book is the remarkable trajectory his life took in the late 1890s. Between 1895 to 1901 (six years!) he went from Federal Civil Service Commissioner to NYC Police Commissioner, to Assistant Secretary of the Navy, to Colonel of the "Rough Riders," to New York State Governor, to Vice-President, to President. Talk about "sleeping on an incline."
Looking forward to reading the other two volumes, but TR and I need a break right now. He is best enjoyed in small doses.
The one thing about this that sticks in my craw is the suggestion that it was a good thing that Alice died.