Rating: 
Summary: Frightfully dull
Review: I was hugely disappointed in a book that made the presidency of, of all people, Teddy Roosevelt seem dull. Perhaps I've been spoiled by historical authors like Doris Kearns Goodwin, whose writing style captures the spirit of her subjects. This book was dry, dry, dry.
Rating: 
Summary: Forceful President with a Long Shadow
Review: In his sequel to The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Edmund Morris masterfully helps his (American) readers better understand how and why they still bask in the legacy of President Roosevelt both here and abroad. Roosevelt, who leveraged President Monroe's doctrine, turned the United States of America into a superpower on the global scene. The other great powers of that time duly took note of Roosevelt's expeditions in the Americas and Asia and his key role in bringing the Russo-Japanese war to an end. On the domestic front, Roosevelt has left an enduring legacy as his contributions to the development of national parks, anti-trust legislation ... and the Teddy Bear have revealed. Roosevelt progressively liberated himself from the influence of the Republican Party by pursuing an increasingly progressive legislative agenda to the discontent of some fellow Republicans. To the chagrin of some readers, Morris does not spend too much time discussing Theodore's beloved Edith, their children and the rest of his family.
Rating:
Summary: "The greatest herder of emperors since Napoleon..."
Review: "Theodore Rex," the sequel to presidential biographer Edmund Morris's Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt," is a thorough examination of the seven years Theodore Roosevelt (TR) spent in the White House as the 26th President of the United States. It picks right up where "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" ended - with the assassination of TR's predecessor, William McKinley. It ends on March 4, 1909, when Roosevelt reluctantly surrendered the reins of power to his hand-picked successor, William Howard Taft.By today's standards (or at least the standards set by the political pundits in the media), a President's overall "greatness" seems to be guided by whether or not he was responsible for at least one major positive accomplishment during his term(s) of office, while at the same time avoiding any major blunders. If you apply these standards to Theodore Roosevelt as he is portrayed in "Theodore Rex," he arguably ranks as one of the five greatest Presidents in our Nation's history. Not only was he responsible for "one" major accomplishment - he was responsible for many. As Morris points out, Theodore Roosevelt, more than any President before him, and maybe since, transformed the Presidency from an almost figurehead-like office into what it is today: the most prominent and powerful office in the world. In "Theodore Rex," Edmund Morris abandons the highly controversial literary device he used when writing "Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan" (in which he placed himself as a fictional observer of events), and wisely returns to what he does best: writing Presidential biographies with his stylishly crisp, clear, and highly entertaining prose. Never once does he let the pace of his eloquent narrative in "Theodore Rex" flag. I found myself immediately "hooked" while reading this superb book's first few pages. TR's means of handling his assumption of the Presidency after the assassination of William McKinley is a dramatic story in itself, and it's deftly handled by Morris. Nearly all of the major events of TR's presidency are handled with equal skill. "Theodore Rex" is a highly detailed and polished narrative that places both TR and his presidency in a decidedly positive light. Roosevelt is portrayed as a highly principled man, almost puritanical in his values, and unwilling to compromise on most deeply felt issues. Morris allows TR's youthful vigor, optimism, progressivism, and hunger for approval to shine through on every page. "Theodore Rex" shouldn't be mistaken as an exercise in hagiography, though. It is, at its heart, a scholarly, judicious, and finely balanced biography. Throughout the book, Morris provides an incisive analysis of Roosevelt and what he accomplished during his seven years as President. Successes and failures, good judgments and misjudgments... all are presented in equal measure. Of all the Presidential biographies I've read in recent years, "Theodore Rex" is one of the best. This eagerly anticipated sequel to "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt," written twenty years after its Pulitzer Prize-winning predecessor, is certainly its equal in quality of writing, scholarship, and insightful historical analysis. Not only that, but it's a great read!
Rating:
Summary: The Great White Elephant
Review: Teddy Roosevelt was one of the two or three most interesting people to serve as President of the United States. You get some hint of this in Edmund Morris' book, but the organization of this book works against it. Because the narrative proceeds as a straight chronology, subjects are dealt with piecemeal, which means the treatment is both superficial and repetitive. For example, the discussions of the diplomacy leading to the acquisition of the Panama Canal territory and the crisis with Japanese immigrants in San Francisco schools are so broken up they do not do justice to the subjects and become hard to follow. The author fails to note the historical significance of some of the events of TR's presidency, such as the fact that his trip to Panama was the first visit outside the United States by an American president. Finally, the author's insistence upon referring to William Taft's weight each time the future president is mentioned goes from annoying the first few times to offensive the 12th or 13th time. For my money, I'd go with H.W. Brands' TR: The Last Romantic, a much better treatment of the subject.
Rating:
Summary: A vivid account of a most interesting President
Review: While not quite as outstanding as his first book of Roosevelt's pre-presidential years, "The Rise of Theordore Roosevelt", Edmund Morris's "Theodore Rex" is still a vivid account of Roosevelt's Presidency (1901-1909). "Theodore Rex" is an account of Roosevelt's memorable and nation changing years as President. It is incredibly well researched and well written. I advise reading "The Rise of Theordore Roosevelt" first, then reading "Theodore Rex" to get the best understanding of the first President of the 20th century.
Rating: 
Summary: Comprehensive (...and slow) Portrait of a Dynamic President
Review: THEODORE REX details Roosevelt's presidency from September 1901 (after McKinley was assassinated) to March 1909 (when TR's hand-picked successor Taft took office). At times the book is a gripping, comprehensive guide to both TR himself and U.S. history. Readers feel the tension and drama of worldwide events like the Russo-Japanese war, the revolution in Panama that led to the U.S. control of the Panama canal, and diplomacy with the menacing Germany. And the coverage of the elections of 1904 and 1908 is interesting, especially for two presidential elections which are not particularly well-documented (probably because they were barely competitive). At other times, however, details slow the pace down significantly. Far be it for me to criticize a Pulitzer-winning author - and I recognize this series IS the definitive TR biography - but my only qualification on this book's excellence were passages of several pages here and there devoted to the specifics of a certain hunting trip, gossip about TR's socialite daughter, or the details of TR's Long Island home, etc. Though I suppose that's what makes this a biography, and not just a U.S. history text. The illustrations and pictures added to the complete picture of oft-overlooked historical figures in TR's cabinet. Overall, you get a sense that TR might have been even larger than the office of the President of the United States - constantly challenging Congress for reform and promoting conservation issues - dominating every personal interaction, never backing down in struggles with big business, negotiating settlement of a war and a nation-crippling coal strike - and being well read, athletic, and cultured all at once. I look forward to part 3 of the series, especially the coverage of the historical 1912 presidential election.
Rating: 
Summary: Superficial Book, Superficial President
Review: The publisher's blurb for this book is unusually accurate when it describes the work as "cinematic". Although Morris does not repeat the stylistic experiments of his Reagan biography, this is still a far from conventional biography. The pace is exciting and varied, slowing down at significant moments to intercut, "real-time", scenes which are undeniably gripping. This technique is carried out with the confidence of an author who is a good writer as well as a good historian, and his prose is often extremely sharp and witty.
The problem with Theodore Rex is the flip side of its virtue: the accessible is too often the superficial. Morris is in need of an editor who can explain to him the meaning of words and phrases such as "enormity" and "in medias res", and to weed out the occasions when his stylistic exuberance shades into vapidity ("Like a mirror-speckled sphere at a prom, sending out spangles of light, he beamed fragmentary particulars at different dancers... The resultant sweep and blur was enough to make any bystander dizzy, because it looked centrifugal; Roosevelt, however, felt only a centripetal energy, directed inward").
These lapses would be minor cavils were it not that they tie in with a deeper lack of substance. The corollary of cinematic excitement is cinematic shallowness, and there is a consistent absence of any analysis of Roosevelt's actions, their motives or their consequences. Turning again to the blurb, there is an attempt to make this a virtue: it disclaims "the easy wisdom of hindsight" in favour of writing in "real time". But this rips Roosevelt's story out of its context. Portraying him simply as a man rather than as a historical figure ignores the only reason why he is of interest.
Ultimately, there is perhaps an appropriateness in Morris's technique: this is the superficial story of a superficial president. The author sums up the achievements of Roosevelt's two terms as "a canal, a coal-strike settlement, a peace treaty, a national conservation conference"; of these the first three would have happened without him, and the latter took place too late in his presidency to have any practical consequences. Roosevelt was undoubtedly a man of great energy and abilities, but chance made him president at a time when not much was happening on the domestic or world stages. If the first world war had occurred on his watch, he could have turned out to be a great leader. Instead, he brought his harp to the party, but nobody asked him to sing.
Rating: 
Summary: second part of life not as entertaining
Review: I always heard that Boswell's Life of Johnson was the greatest biography ever written and I believed it until I read Morris's first half of his Theodore Roosevelt biography which covered Roosevelt's life up until he learned of the President's death and realized he would be the next President. It was so well written and so readable, I waited twnty years for the next volume, checking every time I went to a bookstore or the library. Finally, Theodore Rex appeared. It is a really good read, but, in my opinion, not as good as the first volume, but I think that is because Roosevelt's life before he became President was much more interesting than was his Presidency. To me, anyway.Don't read this volume without starting with the first.
Rating:
Summary: A story of a true American
Review: A dense biography of one of our country's greatest presidents. This well researched and extremely detailed biography captures the major challenges that TR faced while president. It is impossible to read this book without comparing it to "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt." The material was not as exciting as the first book, where TR was an adventurer, rancher, mercenary, hunter, and politician. In "Theodore Rex" he was merely the President of United States. Some of the chapters seemed to be more informational filler vice historical analysis, but this was not a major distraction. The work is politically well balanced. Morris's use of language slows down the work when he uses obscure works and drawn out sentence structure.
Rating:
Summary: DEEEE-lighted!
Review: Utterly fantastic in so many directions. One gives pause to apply his many quotes speeches and anecdotes to modern-day events; 'what if TR was President in 2001...?' was a mental footnote to virtually every chapter. Wistful in its remembrance, but impartial in its honesty, Edmund Morris achieves where other TR biopics have stumbled or plodded. I walked away from a book that introduced me to a form of leadership one would hope to see again. It pays historical tribute to a place, a time, a man that changed the way the American President would be both practiced and viewed by America and the world alike. I join other reviewers in hoping the third installment arrives before 2022. Bravo to Edmund Morris.
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