Buffalo & Erie County Public Library Staff Review by Anne Conable:
Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th President, is to many people a larger than life figure for his “Speak softly and carry a big stick” diplomacy, triumphant dash up San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War, as environmentalist, National Parks initiator, and corruption fighter. He is well documented as an adult, a fascinating reflection of brash and vibrant Turn of the 20th C. America. This biography by America’s great storyteller David McCullough was especially interesting to me because of McCullough’s purpose in talking about Roosevelt’s childhood and the influences that shaped him into the adult we better know.
McCullough has fully succeeded in painting a vivid, well-researched portrait of an unusual family in which “Teedie” began his life – completely home-schooled and subject to disabling bouts of asthma, the young TR was heavily influenced by his striking parents, the highly philanthropic, civically influential Theodore Sr. and the strong, beautiful, Southern-born Mittie. TR’s childhood was one of great wealth and privilege, with much expected of him and his siblings Elliott (later Eleanor Roosevelt’s father) and Corinne (known as “Bamie,” perhaps the most influential of all his entire life as confidante and family caretaker). The family’s epic trips to Europe, in the style of the wealthy of that day, were instructive but frequently disrupted by TR’s asthma attacks, which McCullough discusses in great detail in light of present-day knowledge of that sometimes psychosomatic affliction. McCullough follows TR through his college career at Harvard, adulthood in NYC, the tragic ending of his first marriage, immersion into the frontier West, and entry into politics.
This book presents a complete and fascinating “backstory” into the adult TR who ultimately became President, as we know, under tragic circumstances in 1901 in Buffalo. A wonderful read!
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