Rating: 
Summary: Amazing biography of an amazing American
Review: I don't usually write reviews, but I was so moved and awed by this book that I had to add my two cents. This is by far one of the best biographies I've ever read, laying out in clear detail (but not so much that it amount to a catalog) why Theodore Roosevelt was one of the best leaders in the history of the United States, flaws and all. Morris is a great storyteller, making all 560-odd pages flow with ease, and putting important events in the context of the day. I even read the end-notes. Two thumbs up.
Rating:
Summary: A thorough and fascinating book about a great presidency.
Review: If you are looking for stories of Theodore Roosevelt (I consciously use "Theodore" rather than "Teddy" because of the account in this book of T.R.'s bewilderment that NOBODY he saw when traveling around America called out to him by full first name) charging up hills in Cuba with the Rough Riders or returning from African safari and forming his own third party, this is not the book for you. This book does not cover before or after his 7 years and 169 days as president.Theodore Rex examines the Roosevelt presidency, from William McKinley's assassination by an anarchist in September of 1901, to the swearing in of "Big Bill" Taft in a blizzard in March of 1909. If you want to read about Roosevelt before his presidency, I would recommend Edmund Morris' The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. It is similar, in that it is an immensely readable historical examination of one of America's greatest leaders. Theodore Rex, though, gives great insight into the life and times of Mr. Roosevelt, the way he changed the presidency, the way he changed America, and the way he changed the world. Roosevelt's (and America's) role in the Panamanian revolution and secession from Colombia, and the subsequent securing of the Panama Canal Treaty, is highly enlightening, and at times bordering on humorous. To briefly quote from the book (page 290): "...another cable from Panama City announced that a government gunboat had tossed five or six shells into the city, 'killing a Chinaman in Salsipuedes street and mortally wounding an ass.' If that was the extent of Colombia's rage so far, a tired President could get some sleep." The story of the kidnapping in Morocco of Ion Perdicaris, a wealthy, American-born expatriate who had given up his citizenship during the Civil War (unbeknownst to the U.S. at the time), and the pressure Roosevelt applied ("Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead"), during the 1904 Republican presidential nominating convention in Chicago, to secure Mr. Perdicaris' freedom, is another fascinating bit of American history. It is a prime example of America's rising stature in the world, and of Theodore Roosevelt's famous "big stick." Other parts, big and small, of Roosevelt's presidency are conveyed with a keen knack for detail and a high degree of objectivity: mediating an impasse between labor and capital on more than one occasion and in more than one context; negotiating a peace between Japan and Russia (which won Roosevelt the Nobel Prize); intervening in Cuba; managing the Philippines; dining with Booker T. Washington; commissioning and sending off of the "Great White Fleet" around the world; and even just moments with his family and friends. A look at a truly independent and forward-thinking individual, Theodore Rex is a joy to read and ponder. Any serious student of American history ought to read this book, but by no means should this book be limited to history buffs. Highly and excitedly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Separating "public opinion" from "public interest"
Review: Teddy Roosevelt accomplished so many things I never knew of until reading this book, which tells Roosevelt's story in a consistently entertaining manner. In addition to really painting a colorful picture of Roosevelt, Morris does a great job of capturing the times in which Roosevelt lived, making the book a great primer on America and the world at the turn of the last century.
Roosevelt did a nice job of separating what the public wanted from what would do it the most good. He was a long-term thinker and a person who could weigh both sides of an issue and find the solution that took both sides into account (often with the end result of making everyone mad at him rather than just one side.) Rooseevelt negotiated treaties and intitiated projects (like the Panama Canal) that changed the direction of world history.
Fantastic book for fans of history and biography.
Rating:
Summary: A Bully Of A Biography
Review: Theodore Roosevelt remarked at the end of his tenure in the White House that "he had a bully time being President." Edmond Morris describes his years, as our chief executive, in a bully manner. Roosevelt is a colorful character and Morris delivers his actions and words in an enthusiastic manner. The author captures the settings around Teddy with masterful descriptions about the weather, surroundings, sounds and smells of the scene. He blends the quotes with the prose in a mix that yields an intense and enjoyable story. Morris avoids the risks of heroe worship by chronicling some Roosevelt mis-steps, like his poor handling of a Brownsville racial incident and some of his ill-tempered public debates. But by focusing only on the White House years, "Theodore Rex' captures a rare focus on an extraordinary leader who's accomplishments continue to benefit us. Some readers may avoid this book, given the criticism directed at the author's biography of Ronald Reagan. Don't - this is an excellent biography in the same spirit of David McCullough's "John Adams." Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: All detail -- no history!
Review: This was a scrupulously researched biography: but strangely, I've come away with no very clear sense either of Roosevelt's mentality, the times he lived in, the importance of his legacy, etc. Reading the book was like watching an extraordinarily detailed episode of A&E's "Biography" series: highly cinematic, much given to careful detail of what everyone looked like, but short on historical depth. One might compare it to -- just off the top of my head -- Tim Pat Coogan's biography of Michael Collins, at the end of which you will have a complete grasp not only of Collins the man, both in private and public capacities, but of the world he lived in (you can practically taste the Guinness), how and why he made his decisions, and the long- and short-term impact of these. "TR" doesn't really do any of that. There's simply too much detail -- it's as if Morris didn't want to omit any tidbit he'd come across (we don't need to know about every rabbit TR shot, or that his hat didn't fit at his first inauguration) in his enthusiasm to demonstrate how much research he'd done. And can I say -- it's horribly written. It gushes. Many of these reviews single out its wonderful prose and vivid portraits. I thought they were awful: almost purely visual, and so overwrought as to be almost embarrassing, as if one were listening to a fawning correspondent breathlessly describe a royal occasion. Here's one of my faves, describing John Hay: "The severe cut of his Savile Row clothes gave line to his five-foot-two-inch figure, while a slight fulness of silk under the winged collar focused attention on his unforgettable face. In youth, when merely mustached, Hay had looked almost mandarin, with his high cheekbones and Ming-smooth brow. Now the mustache floated over a magnificent whitened Vandyke, while the skin above was slashed with creases, two of the deepest plummeting in a frown so anguished that photographers felt obliged to retouch them." A mustache floating over a magnificent Vandyke! A Ming-smooth brow! All those moveable features -- he sounds like a grandee Mr. Potato-head. For chrissakes, he was elegant and looked grave -- I'd like to know what he was *like.*
| 
