President Theodore Roosevelt’s life and presidency has been well-examined in numerous biographies, both scholarly and popular.
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Here are five published works the reader with a general interest in Roosevelt might find the most interesting:
1. Edmund Morris’s three-volume biography, a work spanning 30 years of the author’s life, tops many lists of notable bios of Theodore Roosevelt. TR’s early life is covered in “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt,” his far-ranging presidency in “Theodore Rex,” and his post-presidential life, including his attempt at a third-party candidacy in 1912, his decline, and death is covered in “Colonel Roosevelt.”
The New York Times called the three-volume work a “definitive study of its restless, mutable, ever-boyish, erudite, and tirelessly energetic subject.”
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2. “Mornings on Horseback” – For a look at Roosevelt’s sickly early years and his transformation into the “vigorous man” history knows,
Anthony Bergen, author and presidential historian, recommends David McCullough’s 2001 tome.
Amazon.com's thumbnail description calls it the story of “ an amazing metamorphosis seen in the context of the very uncommon household in which (Roosevelt) was raised.”
3. “T.R.: The Last Romantic” – Another top Bergen recommendation is H.W. Brands’s 1998 book. It’s an uncompromising look at Roosevelt, warts and all, according to
Amazon.com's description: “And yet, according to Bill Brands, if we look at the private Roosevelt without blinders, we see a man whose great public strengths hid enormous personal deficiencies. ... Beautifully written, powerfully moved by its subject, (the book) is nonetheless a biography more appropriate to today’s critical times.”
4. “Theodore Roosevelt on Leadership” – Most stories seem to find their way into how-to books on leadership. Teddy Roosevelt doesn’t escape that treatment in James Strock’s book, subtitled “Executive Lessons from the Bully Pulpit.”
The Art of Manliness website said Strock does “a fantastic job of distilling leadership principles from the experiences of Roosevelt’s life.”
5. “Mark Twain and the Colonel” – The tumultuous years surrounding the turn of the 20th Century are examined through the lives and actions of Roosevelt and Mark Twain. Author Philip McFarland looks at six aspects of American life in those turbulent two decades, as seen and shaped by “two of the most influential figures of the age,”
according to Amazon.com.
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