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A review by chaosmavin
The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin
5.0
I don't usually read historical non-fiction and I have to say I am so impressed! Goodwin does an amazing job painting history not as a regurgitation of facts but as a an epic tale filled with visceral imagery and emotion. The book is about three major stories in my mind: The effect of journalism on politics; American history and the lives of two presidents and their legacy; and friendship. Goodwin navigates and interweaves these three stories masterfully through the book. It is hard at times listening to it to not be distracted by thoughts of what amount of research it would take to write such a book.
Edward Herman narrates which works for the most part until you remember he was in Lost Boys as the head Vampire:)
One of my favorite parts is her paraphrasing of TR's speech at Madison Square Garden at the finale of his campaign on the progressive ticket. I was so moved by the snippet I looked it up to post it on FB only to realize it was not a section of the speech but a synopsis by Goodwin of the poignant parts. The actual speech is several pages and yet you would never guess from how well she brings it all together. Here is the excerpt:
"Perhaps once in a generation there comes a chance for people of the country to play there part wisely and fearlessly In some great battle of the age long warfare For human rights. Perhaps less dramatic than the struggles their forefathers had faced the battle for social justice was well nye as important. If the problems created by the industrial age were left on the tended America would eventually be sundered buy those lines of division that set have and have not against one another. We know that there are in life injustices that We are powerless to remedy but we know also there's much Injustice that can be remedied. The progressive party would harness the collective power of the people through their governmental agencies to move the country forward. We propose to live the burdens from the lowly and the weary, from the poor and the oppressed. We propose to stand for that sacred rights of childhood and womanhood nay more we propose to see that manhood is not crushed out of the men who toil by excessive hours of labor by underpayment of injustice and oppression surely there never was a fight better worth making then this."
Goodwin was well deserving of The Pulitzer.
Edward Herman narrates which works for the most part until you remember he was in Lost Boys as the head Vampire:)
One of my favorite parts is her paraphrasing of TR's speech at Madison Square Garden at the finale of his campaign on the progressive ticket. I was so moved by the snippet I looked it up to post it on FB only to realize it was not a section of the speech but a synopsis by Goodwin of the poignant parts. The actual speech is several pages and yet you would never guess from how well she brings it all together. Here is the excerpt:
"Perhaps once in a generation there comes a chance for people of the country to play there part wisely and fearlessly In some great battle of the age long warfare For human rights. Perhaps less dramatic than the struggles their forefathers had faced the battle for social justice was well nye as important. If the problems created by the industrial age were left on the tended America would eventually be sundered buy those lines of division that set have and have not against one another. We know that there are in life injustices that We are powerless to remedy but we know also there's much Injustice that can be remedied. The progressive party would harness the collective power of the people through their governmental agencies to move the country forward. We propose to live the burdens from the lowly and the weary, from the poor and the oppressed. We propose to stand for that sacred rights of childhood and womanhood nay more we propose to see that manhood is not crushed out of the men who toil by excessive hours of labor by underpayment of injustice and oppression surely there never was a fight better worth making then this."
Goodwin was well deserving of The Pulitzer.