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A review by slichto3
The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin
3.0
People are a lot more complicated than they seem. I remember learning about Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft in high school. All I remembered was that Roosevelt was nicknamed the "trustbuster" and that Taft had gotten stuck in a bathtub. In the case of Roosevelt, that's extremely reductive, and in the cast of Taft, it's stupid and mean. But hey, I was a teenager.
The Bully Pulpit tells a much more nuanced story about both presidents. It walks through the entirety of their lives, with a heavy focus on their respective presidencies. They both had quite different personalities. Roosevelt was loud, pugnacious, and energetic. Taft was amiable, methodical, and relatively unambitious. Despite their differences, they became close friends. Before either became president, they both were strongly in favor of reform and of eliminating corruption in government and business. When Roosevelt became president, Taft became essentially his right-hand man. When Roosevelt decided not to run after his second term, he campaigned on behalf of Taft, his chosen successor. After Taft became president, though, both men suffered a rift in their friendship that led to Roosevelt and Taft running against each other in the next presidential election. They both lost.
Overall, The Bully Pulpit was educational and mostly interesting. It certainly wasn't one of my favorite books, though, for a few reasons. Most prominent, to me, is that it was long and occasionally quite tedious. This could just be my fault - I'm dumb, and I have a short attention span. But I felt bogged down by this book numerous times. What made this problem worse is that the focus of the book is a bit fuzzy. Roosevelt and Taft are both in the spotlight, but then so are some of the prominent journalists of the time. This meant that the emphasis shifted from person to person throughout, which made it tough to understand the through line of the story. So I got bored. There were also just a lot of people to keep track of, like the relatives of all the different people involved. To be honest, I forgot who exactly one of the journalists was, and all of Taft's and Roosevelt's siblings mixed together. I know, I'm dumb.
Further, the book feels quite exhaustive. It talks about a lot of events that I don't really care about. There were so many descriptions of the parties that they went to and the long speaking tours that they went on. The detail was a bit much, for me. I suppose it helped to show what the world was like then, and what life was like for Taft and Roosevelt specifically, but I was bored.
Still, there were some really fascinating elements. Learning about the politics of the trusts I to be very interesting. It's a lot more complex than how I learned about it in school. There was also so much more to the situation in the Philippines than I had thought. What really got me, though, were some of the more personal stories for the specific individuals in the book. The collapse of the McClure's magazine staff, and McClure himself; the relationship between Taft and his wife, Nellie; the fraying of the relationship between Taft and Roosevelt. All of those stories were quite gripping. Finally, I was surprised at how moved I was by the epilogue - specifically, by the reconciliation of Taft and Roosevelt. It was just such a beautiful moment, beautifully described, that some tears definitely came to my eyes.
The Bully Pulpit is, on the whole, a bit of a mixed bag. There are some very educational and very moving moments, but there's also a lot of mundanity in between those moments. If you're prepared for those, by all means, have at it. I'm glad to have this one behind me, though, despite mostly enjoying it.
The Bully Pulpit tells a much more nuanced story about both presidents. It walks through the entirety of their lives, with a heavy focus on their respective presidencies. They both had quite different personalities. Roosevelt was loud, pugnacious, and energetic. Taft was amiable, methodical, and relatively unambitious. Despite their differences, they became close friends. Before either became president, they both were strongly in favor of reform and of eliminating corruption in government and business. When Roosevelt became president, Taft became essentially his right-hand man. When Roosevelt decided not to run after his second term, he campaigned on behalf of Taft, his chosen successor. After Taft became president, though, both men suffered a rift in their friendship that led to Roosevelt and Taft running against each other in the next presidential election. They both lost.
Overall, The Bully Pulpit was educational and mostly interesting. It certainly wasn't one of my favorite books, though, for a few reasons. Most prominent, to me, is that it was long and occasionally quite tedious. This could just be my fault - I'm dumb, and I have a short attention span. But I felt bogged down by this book numerous times. What made this problem worse is that the focus of the book is a bit fuzzy. Roosevelt and Taft are both in the spotlight, but then so are some of the prominent journalists of the time. This meant that the emphasis shifted from person to person throughout, which made it tough to understand the through line of the story. So I got bored. There were also just a lot of people to keep track of, like the relatives of all the different people involved. To be honest, I forgot who exactly one of the journalists was, and all of Taft's and Roosevelt's siblings mixed together. I know, I'm dumb.
Further, the book feels quite exhaustive. It talks about a lot of events that I don't really care about. There were so many descriptions of the parties that they went to and the long speaking tours that they went on. The detail was a bit much, for me. I suppose it helped to show what the world was like then, and what life was like for Taft and Roosevelt specifically, but I was bored.
Still, there were some really fascinating elements. Learning about the politics of the trusts I to be very interesting. It's a lot more complex than how I learned about it in school. There was also so much more to the situation in the Philippines than I had thought. What really got me, though, were some of the more personal stories for the specific individuals in the book. The collapse of the McClure's magazine staff, and McClure himself; the relationship between Taft and his wife, Nellie; the fraying of the relationship between Taft and Roosevelt. All of those stories were quite gripping. Finally, I was surprised at how moved I was by the epilogue - specifically, by the reconciliation of Taft and Roosevelt. It was just such a beautiful moment, beautifully described, that some tears definitely came to my eyes.
The Bully Pulpit is, on the whole, a bit of a mixed bag. There are some very educational and very moving moments, but there's also a lot of mundanity in between those moments. If you're prepared for those, by all means, have at it. I'm glad to have this one behind me, though, despite mostly enjoying it.