Rating: 
Summary: Great Writing-Great Subject- but quit w/ the FRENCH!
Review: This author is a writer of incredible talent, and this work is a spectacular chroncicle of the presidency of TR. But Edmund Morris uses WAY too many French phrases/words in his writing. It is highly annoying to come across some obscure French phrase or term used to describe some event or feeling. I don't buy books on American presidents to read French turns of phrase. French is a filthy language spoken by a cowardly, repulsive nation. TR would likely today be so disgusted w/ the behavior of this "country" that he would wrestle Chirac to the ground and grind his ugly chain-smoking face into the mud.
Please, Mr. Morris- NO MORE FRENCH!
Rating: 
Summary: Quite A Story! Quite A Book!
Review: "Theodore Rex" is the second in Edmund Morris' trilogy of the magnificent life of Theodore Roosevelt. Focusing on Roosevelt's presidency of 1901-9, "Theodore Rex" is a worthy successor to "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" (see my Amazon review).Chronologically arranged from the assassination of President McKinley to inauguration day, 1909, "Theodore Rex" covers the major issues to confront the Roosevelt Administration, both domestic and foreign. From his first day in office, TR was confronted with the task of winning over the Republican party in order to ensure his nomination in 1904. In this task he had to get around the hostility of McKinley's patron, Sen. Mark Hanna of Ohio. Domestically, TR faced a number of issues, some more successfully than others. Although a believer in Anglo-Saxon superiority, TR did respect the accomplishments of individuals. Race relations was one issue which TR confronted early and often, motivated by a mixture of interests, grounded both in politics and principle. Much of Hanna's influence came from his control of Southern delegations, a particularly corrupt wing of the Republican party. Having no power of their own, the Republican party in the South consisted almost exclusively of whites seeking federal patronage and blacks. In a effort to gain leverage with the black wing of the party, TR made an overture to Booker T. Washington, making him the first black invited to dinner at the White House. This overture was met with overwhelming disapproval by almost all segments of the body politic. Attempts to appoint blacks to federal positions ran into Senate opposition. Even to speak out against the practice of lynching tempered the courage of a leader with calculated political risk. Toward the end of his term, his handling of the case of the 25th Infantry in Brownsville, Texas was to undue much of his record in race relations. Labor relations presented an early test when TR became the first President to mediate a labor dispute as he brought the anthracite coal operators and miners together, turning a potential political nightmare into a major personal victory. His prosecution of the antitrust suit against the Northern Securities company, the railroad trust, brought him into conflict with the captains of industry and finance. This would be followed by his promotion of legislation to allow federal regulation of railroad rates. He would later work with some of these same captains in averting a financial panic. An early consumerist, TR lead the fight for the Pure Food and Drug Act, a measure inspired by Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" and opposed by strong congressional forces. Much Of TR's legacy survives in the lands he set aside in National Parks and his beginning of conservation policies. Unimpaired by Congressional opposition, TR employed executive orders to expand the wilderness held for future generations. It was in foreign policy that TR had some of his most enduring and spectacular successes. Confronted with a potential German takeover of Venezuela, TR reached back to the Monroe Doctrine and anticipated the war to occur with Germany in the following decade. Unlike some successors, TR was able to go to the brink of war without falling over the edge. When negotiations with Congress and Columbia failed to secure a canal treaty, TR supported the Panamanian revolt and secured the treaty which would lead to the Canal which he considered to be the greatest accomplishment of his administration. Mid-Eastern terrorism was not unknown in TR's day. The kidnapping of the American expatriate, Ion Perdicaris, from his home in Tangier, Morocco by the Raisuli, placed the issue on the President's desk. TR applied mounting pressure on the Sultan to achieve Perdicaris' release. With warships in place, TR finally issued the ultimatum: "We want Perdicaris Alive or Raisuli Dead". Japan would figure prominently among his foreign policy initiatives. Intervening to bring an end to the Russo-Japanese War won TR the respect of the world, as well as the Nobel Peace Prize, the first Nobel Prize won by an American. Despite his belief in Anglo-Saxon superiority he admired the Japanese race and preferred their victory over Russia, a victory which he confirmed after both sides had exhausted themselves in their struggle. Shortly thereafter, relations between Japan and the U. S. drifted toward war when the San Francisco school board voted to segregate Japanese and white students. A combination of moral suation on the school board and a naval display in the Pacific delayed war by 35 years. The buildup of the Navy, which had begun during Roosevelt's service as Assistant Secretary of he Navy, was capped by the circumnavigation voyage of the Great White Fleet, concluding a month before TR's own term. At the end of his term, TR enjoyed an odd mixture of love by the people and hatred by the captains of industry. He was still able to take pride in his accomplishments. He had calmed a nation plunged into grief. This most beligerent of presidents, with his soft speech and big stick had achieved his goals while keeping the peace. He has showed, albeit timidly, how to treat those of other colors as equals. He had limited trusts, affirmed the Monroe Doctrine, built the great Canal, brought peace to the Far East, faced down Mid-East terrorists, settled labor disputes, reduced the lynching rate, expanded the national parks and monuments, had become the first vice-president to succeed to the presidency and win a term on his own and had honored the two term limit. Theodore Roosevelt lived quite a story. Edmund Morris has written quite a book.
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: Bully!
Review: A thrilling look at the great Bull Moose at the apex of his career. Morris definitely seems to have regained his stride after his disappointing Reagan roman a clef. Among recent presidential biographies I'd rank "Theodore Rex" just behind McCullough's "Truman."
Rating: 
Summary: Lost in prose
Review: After reading McCullough's TRUMAN and Steven Ambrose EISENHOWER I looked to this book with interest in a facinating president. McCullough and Ambrose books are equal to Theodore Rex in academics but were more readable than Morris is. While it contains great detail about the life and times I did not get to know the man, Roosevelt, like I had Truman and Eisenhower in the other books. The book is more appropriate as an academic history than a readable book that anyone can pick up and read.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent overview of TR presidency
Review: As many other reviewers have pointed out, this is a book to be read specifically regarding Theodore Roosevel'ts presidency. Morris' "Rise" will give background prior to the Presidency. I hope a third volume will follow to describe TR's life after the White House. It would be impossible to give all the background some reviewers seem to desire. TR's relationship with his family would require an enormous volume itself. For an in-depth treatment of the events of TR's presidency, however, this is an excellent book. The major events, and TR's role and opinions, are all described in great detail, from the famous/infamous events leading up to the Panama Canal, the tragic events in Texas, the resolution of the coal strikes, "Trust Busting," the Russo-Japanese war, his conservation efforts, and the Great White Fleet. A truly fitting tribute to "The Strenuous Life" made real in the White House. The author obviously truly admires his subject, but does not hide perceived flaws or failings.
Rating:
Summary: Dee-lighted! A bully book about a bully President
Review: As this work of popular history by Edmund Morris begins, it's the early morning of 14 September 1901. President McKinley lies dying in Buffalo, NY, mortally wounded by an assassin's bullet. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt is on his way by buckboard and train from his isolated vacation cabin in Upper Tahawus, NY. Over the next 7 years and 169 days, THEODORE REX would drag and shove the United States into the twentieth century. Unlike perhaps other biographies of TR, this one only hints at his life before his ascendancy to the White House, and ends somewhat abruptly on the day he transferred the mantle of power to William Howard Taft on 4 March 1909. In between, Morris hits all the high points of Roosevelt's two administrations: acquisition of the rights to build the Panama Canal, settlement of the 1902 coal strike, arbitration of the treaty ending the Russo-Japanese War, build-up of the American Navy, establishment of Cuban independence, and the calling of a national conservation conference. And certainly the low point - Theodore's response to the 1906 Brownsville Incident, wherein 20-30 Black troops of the 25th U.S. Infantry allegedly went on a shooting rampage in that Texas town. One of the strengths of the author's prose is that it never becomes ponderous. Indeed, at times, it approaches oddly lyrical, as when he describes the signing of the canal treaty between newly independent Panama and the U.S.: "Pens scratched across parchment. Wax melted on silk. Two oceans brimmed closer, ready to spill." THEODORE REX isn't solely about great affairs of State. Did you know that both Teddy and his eldest daughter, Alice, habitually carried pistols. What would today's anti-gun lobby make of that! The book also serves to dispel a Hollywood myth regarding the 1904 Perdicaris Affair, in which an American citizen in Tangier was kidnapped by the desert insurgent Ahmed ben Mohammed el Raisuli, an event memorialized in celluloid by the vastly entertaining 1975 film, THE WIND AND THE LION, starring Candice Bergen and Sean Connery. Had the movie been more true to fact, Ms. Bergen couldn't have played the role unless dressed in drag. With my short attention span and too many books waiting on the shelf, this narrative of Roosevelt's Presidency is just about as good as it gets. At 555 paperback pages, it's long, but not too long to bog me down for weeks. It's detailed, compiled from a nine-page bibliography of sources, but not so detailed as to become tedious. And it's got photographs - one or two in each of its thirty-two chapters. At the book's conclusion, I felt I had a satisfactory appreciation of Teddy the man, and was glad I'd taken the opportunity to pick up this excellent volume. My only criticism is the lack of a brief post-epilogue noting Teddy's abortive 1912 attempt to regain the Presidency at the head of the Bull Moose Party, thus splitting the Republican vote and handing the election to Woodrow Wilson, which would have perhaps better rounded out the saga. Bully!
Rating: 
Summary: Very Little Facts only Prose
Review: Considering the length of this book, the reader should come away knowing a great deal about one of our greatest presidents. Unfortunately, Edmund Morris is writing in the same style as Michael and Jeff Shaara. The only difference is that the Shaaras lists their books as fiction. This book is filled with Morris' opinions and musings on what T.R. was thinking. This book was a waste of my time and should not be listed as a historical biography. If you want to read a book on T.R., then pick up Mornings on Horseback.
Rating:
Summary: Why Can't You Be More Like Your Cousin?
Review: Each president, no matter how strong or weak on election day, grows into office. Theodore Roosevelt is no exception. The best aspect of this book for me was Morris' ability to showcase this transition from man of action to statesman and leader.
We will never again be as innocent or brash, as casually racist or inhumane, as we were when we had Teddy in the White House. But if you'd like to see that era come alive again, and see how we are now what Teddy forged for us then, read this book.
All that said, I have much more admiration for his four-term cousin, and wonder why we haven't carved him on Mount Rushmore yet. In his new memorial in Washington, he looks so alone there...
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Biography
Review: Edmund Morris has returned to his Puliter Prize winning form, following the odd career detour which resulted in the controversial Reagan biography "Dutch", in the second volume of his Theodore Roosevelt trilogy "Theodore Rex". It begins with a wonderfully written prologue which follows Roosevelt's journey in a buckboard through the Adirondacks to a train station from whence he travels to Buffalo to the dead president William McKinley and then on to Washington accompanying McKinley's body. In this prologue we see the vital new president keeping himself tightly in control (a hard, hard thing for him to do!) while observing the slices of America afforded him from the train's windows: great poverty in coal mining country, tradition and grace in small towns, and the bustling vitality of a new century in the booming cities. The biography focuses solely on Roosevelt's seven years as President and shines with its subject's vitality and energy. Roosevelt was a fascinating man presiding in a challenging time of change and growth. He pushed through the legislation for the Panama Canal, mediated the Russo-Japanese War with its ominous promise of much of the Century's later tragedy, sent out The Great White Fleet to assert America's might and ambition, and fought the great trusts which were dominating the economy. I've always thought that really good biographies read like novels--McCullough's Truman for example--and "Theodore Rex" proves the point. This is a delightful read with much to teach us about America as she was almost 100 years ago and about the ability of a good, dynamic, very human man to lead her. I highly recommend this work.
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