Theodore Roosevelt: The American Presidents Series: The 26th President, 1901-1909 - Hardcover

Louis Auchincloss

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805069062 ISBN 13: 9780805069068

Publisher: Times Books, 2002

Synopsis

An intimate portrait of the first president of the 20th century

The American century opened with the election of that quintessentially American adventurer, Theodore Roosevelt. Louis Auchincloss's warm and knowing biography introduces us to the man behind the many myths of Theodore Roosevelt. From his early involvement in the politics of New York City and then New York State, we trace his celebrated military career and finally his ascent to the national political stage. Caricatured through history as the "bull moose," Roosevelt was in fact a man of extraordinary discipline whose refined and literate tastes actually helped spawn his fascination with the rough-and-ready worlds of war and wilderness.

Bringing all his novelist's skills to the task, Auchincloss briskly recounts the significant contributions of Roosevelt's career and administration. This biography is as thorough as it is readable, as clear-eyed as it is touching and personal.

About this title

Review:

Theodore Roosevelt was a man of contradictions: a warrior who won the Nobel Peace prize, a wealthy man who battled corporate greed, a thinker who prized action more than words (but who wrote fine books himself).

He was also, writes Louis Auchincloss in this lucid biography, an extraordinary leader, "a political idealist who had the wisdom to know that only by astute and well-considered compromise in our legislative process could he hope to see enacted even a fraction of the social and military programs that he deemed ... essential to the welfare of his nation." Compromise he did, of course, though in the end the war hero and trustbuster could not bring the right wing of the Republican Party to see the wisdom of his reformist ways. The result, Auchincloss chronicles, was a terrible split, bringing about the defection of liberals from that once-liberal institution and the birth of a political war that still rages.

With a keen eye for political nuance and a clear appreciation for Teddy Roosevelt as a one-of-a-kind, self-made man, Auchincloss offers an engaging view of a great American president. --Gregory McNamee

About the Author:

Louis Auchincloss was a highly renowned novelist, literary critic, and historian. The author of more than fifty books, including The Rector of Justin, The House of Five Talents, and The Atonement, he was a former president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., was arguably the preeminent political historian of our time. For more than half a century, he has been a cornerstone figure in the intellectual life of the nation and a fixture on the political scene. He served as special assistant to John F. Kennedy; won two Pulitzer Prizes for The Age of Jackson (1946) and A Thousand Days (1966); and in 1998 received the National Humanities Medal. He published the first volume of his autobiography, A Life in the Twentieth Century, in 2000.

About this edition

• Publisher: Times Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0805069062
• ISBN 13: 9780805069068
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176
• Editor: Arthur M. Schlesinger