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Nov 02, 2011

Marcel rated it:

Teddy Roosevelt ranks among the most colorful characters in American history. We all have heard of the charge of Roosevelt's Raiders up San Juan Hill. But who knows that Teddy once captured a horse thief? Who knows that Roosevelt was a prolific writer, and somewhat of an expert scientist? Teddy ranks alongside characters such as Alexander the Great, George Armstong Custer and Kit Carson as people one wonders, "How did they do so much in a single life?"

Edmund Morris is More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 11, 2011

Dick rated it:

It's hard to separate my admiration for Theodore Roosevelt from my appreciation for Edmund Morris's great biography. Theodore is an unexpectedly remarkable and fascinating individual. Edmund paints a compelling picture of Teddy with his boyish enthusiasms, boundless energy, magnetic personality, odd speaking style (at least for much of his early career), and top flight intellect. Roosevelt was a committed amateur biologist who wrote one of his many books on the big game animals of the west. More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 20, 2011

Erik rated it:

Having been invited by Nate and Robyn Gregory to spend two weeks with them in NW Wisconsin and having had several prior visits to the nearby town, I brought up two books for scholarly review and trusted to the Hayward animal welfare resale shop for supplementary pleasure reading. There I picked up this text and a couple of birthday gifts for a niece, expecting to make a start while still up in the north woods, but to finish it at home.

In fact, the text was so engrossing that I finis More...

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Apr 05, 2008

Mary rated it:

I'm a fiction reader, mostly; this was one of the efforts I made at reading some non-fiction after hearing Edmund Morris in an interview on a talk radio station. He was immensely impressive--so well spoken, so literate, so knowledgeable about, it seemed, nearly everything.

The book was as good as I had hoped, full of wonderful detail of Theodore Roosevelt's personal life. This first of (3?) books by Morris on Roosevelt was on his formative years--the love of his parents, the love of More...

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Mar 30, 2008

rmn rated it:

It is hard to believe this is not fiction. Roosevelt led an amazing childhood and early life, one that is not to be believed.

Aided by Morris' lively writing, this book follows TR from birth until just before he becomes President. It is not only a great picture of the precocious, intellectual, and multi-talented Roosevelt, but a good look at what America was like in the late 1800s and delves into alot of history that gets glossed over in school.

While this is the first bo More...

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Jan 10, 2008

Bethany rated it:

This book has been on my to-read list for a very long time, largely because it has so many pages and the content is incredibly dense. I finally buckled down and read it; I am immensely glad that I did. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt is a masterpiece of a biography that - though long - is never tedious. Even as larger-than-life as Roosevelt is, Morris manages to express these characteristics while maintaining Roosevelt’s humanity. I liked Roosevelt before I read this book, and now I must conf More...

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Feb 26, 2008

Bud rated it:

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt is an outstanding biography written about one of America’s most unique personalities. As the name suggests, this is written about TR’s early life and the experiences that shaped the man.

As a child, Theodore Roosevelt overcame early physical aliments to become a man who had incredible stamina and a strong constitution.

And throughout the rest of the book, Morris portrays a man largely unaffected by his wealth who developed a voracious app More...

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Feb 25, 2008

Adrienne rated it:

I always like the "rise of" biographies because that's where I feel I am in my life. I had always turned up my nose at Teddy Roosevelt but after reading this I really admire him as a great man who made the most of his life. He coped with horrible tragedy (wife and mother died within 24 hours of each other). I don't particularly agree with his politics (he didn't like Jefferson, and leaned toward the progressive/liberal side of the spectrum) but I still am grateful that he became our pr More...

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Feb 12, 2012

Clint rated it:

I'd always known Teddy Roosevelt was kind of like Davy Crockett, Charles Bronson, and set of encyclopedias wrapped up into one dude, but this book had tons of kickass details new to me. Like, he was kind of the first government official to push for an air force, 13 or 14 years before the Wright brothers even got their first plane in the air. He rounded up dangerous outlaws in the wild west, was a badass boxer, could read 2 or 3 books a day, even on a cattle drive, and the Rough Riders thing, w More...

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Jan 18, 2012

Jim rated it:

This Pulitzer Prize winning classic initial volume of a biographical trilogy weighs in at 780 pages. Morris, especially in the beginning sections, writes with such energy and color that he makes Stacy Schiff seem staid by comparison. A wealth of journalistic detail contributes to the liveliness and immediacy of the story. If you like American history, read it!

Morris proves his point that Roosevelt merits this treatment. Cowboy, historian, naturalist, politician, war hero—he lived enoug More...

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Jan 10, 2012

Elf rated it:

Edmund Morris's The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt was recommended to me by someone who was head-deep into something called "men's studies," deliberately named by analogy to "women's studies." He told me that Roosevelt was an example of a truly manly man, one that should be emulated by all right-thinking men.

I don't know that I agree with that. If Edmund Morris is to be believed, Roosevelt approached some apotheosis of human willpower, preternaturally blessed from birth More...

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Nov 10, 2011

***Dave rated it:

(Original review Dec 2006 http://hill-kleerup.org/blog/2006/12/12/... )

Overall 4/5
Story 4/5
Re-Readability 3/5
Audio 4/5

This audio adaptation (abridged, but still weighing in at a dozen discs or so) of Morris’ Pullitzer Prize-winning biography, is a solid and entertaining, if not overly-illuminating chronology of TR’s childhood through his brief vice-presidency, leaving off just as McKinley dies from an assassination. It covers this broad and interesting subject More...

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Jul 27, 2011

Chris rated it:

How does a madman become president of the United States? A man that didn’t even want to be president? It might suffice to say that fin-de-seile America was mad itself, burgeoning after the Reconstruction and the manic frenzy of invention. America was young, beautiful, talented and ambitious; a teenager that knew where it was going and didn’t show any signs of restraint. Theodore Roosevelt’s eccentric zeal brought out the embodiment of these traits, and with a little luck, that magic wand of More...

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Jan 05, 2011

Marissa rated it:

Morris traces the incredible life story of Theodore Roosevelt from birth up to the point where he's about to take over as President. I cannot imagine a more amazing and inspiring subject. In addition to his mental brilliance (he never forgot a person's face or life story and could recite passages of books read dozens of years earlier), Roosevelt had a natural curiosity that his parents allowed to develop: they not only permitted him to kill and stuff thousands of animals throughout his childhood More...

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Nov 30, 2010

Mike rated it:

When it comes to nonfiction, it doesn't get better than this.

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt traces the early life of our most singular President, from his birth and childhood, up until the day before he took office. It's a fascinating and inspiring story, and incredibly well told.

Roosevelt's life was remarkable in almost every way. I was thrilled by stories of him growing up, overcoming the hardships of severe asthma and illness through tough workouts of all kinds, including More...

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Oct 10, 2010

Terry rated it:

This excellent biography of Theodore Roosevelt covers the period of his life from birth until just before his becoming President after the death of William McKinley in September 1901. Teddy Roosevelt was larger than life -- a man full of vigor and drive. People were predicting he'd become President of the United States while he was still a teenager. He was perhaps the first leader of the country to bridge the cultures of Easterner and Westerner. He is a study in contrasts -- an expert inside More...

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Feb 25, 2010

Ty rated it:

I started another biography after finishing this and quickly realized not many non-fiction books can be this lively and engrossing. Morris succeeds in writing a surprisingly objective profile of a very complicated figure. The best insight into Roosevelt is Morris' description of him as less a calculating politico and more of a genuine force of nature. Many who met Roosevelt dislike him, quite a few feared him, but everyone was captivated by his energy and almost gravitational personality. Th More...

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Feb 05, 2010

Matt rated it:

Everyone, it seems, loves Theodore Roosevelt. He did so many things, and was so many things, in his fully-lived life, that there's an aspect of his personality that anyone - of any political persuasion - can latch onto.

A Democrat can support his love of nature, and the creation of the National Park system; Republicans can support the fact that Teddy would be more than willing to go into those National Parks and blow the hell out of whatever animal crossed his path. A Democrat can su More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 05, 2009

James rated it:

Long and detailed, _The Rise..._ provides a very full and deep sweep of TR's life before the Presidency. My view of it may be somewhat influenced by the fact that I heard it as an audiobook on a long ride, but I felt that for all its depth I still couldn't quite get inside TR's head to understand his motivations and drives at a deeper level; it could be that, given the historical records we hove, Morris did absolutely the best job possible. I also found it a little but fan magazine rather than b More...

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May 22, 2011

Judy rated it:

I loved this book. It won the Pulitzer Prize and it's easy to see why. In this first volume of Morris's trilogy, Theodore Roosevelt is examined from birth to the moment he discovers that President McKinley has died and he is now President of the Unied States. While much of the book focuses on Roosevelt's rapid rise to power--which Roosevelt himself compared to the trajectory of a rocket--Theodore Roosevelt was also a naturalist, a successful author, a husband, a father, a hunter, a rancher, a More...

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Sep 09, 2010

Frank rated it:

One of the best biographies I've ever read.

It apparently started out as a screenplay, and retains all the vivid dialog and dramatically drawn settings that one would expect from such a work, but it is also rigorously footnoted and filled with an intimate knowledge of American political and social life at the end of the nineteenth century.

Most of all it is a beautiful portrait of a truly singular man: a small, asthmatic child who grew through pure force of personal will in More...

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Feb 25, 2009

Peter rated it:

This is my favorite non fiction book. I knew very little about Theodore Roosevelt before reading this, but that turned about to be a good thing because it was fun to see what would happen next! Not only do you learn a great deal about his life and his personality, but the book is also a fascinating history of the late 1800's. It's a biography, but the novel reads like a narrative. We follow Theodore from childhood through becoming a New York State Assemblyman, running a ranch in South Dakota More...

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May 06, 2010

Jim rated it:

One of the best biographies of half a life that I've ever read. It covers Roosevelt’s life from birth to the point where he is told that McKinley has died and he (Roosevelt) is President.

In reading this, I was again amazed that one man was able to pack in so much activity into a single life. A list of the achievements is worth repeating: State legislator, cowboy rancher, police commissioner, social reformer, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, amateur boxer, war hero, governor, vice pr More...

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Sep 05, 2011

Mike rated it:

Wow what a great book! As just about all of the reviews of this book have said, this is a fantastic look at the life of Teddy Roosevelt up to his ascension to the Presidency. What a fascinating man TR was. His entire lifestyle is worth of emulating and inspiring to us even today. TR seemingly never stopped going either mentally or physically. He was always walking, talking riding, hunting, or reading and seemed to require little or no sleep to be highly successful at all things. It makes m More...

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Jun 25, 2008

David rated it:

An incredible book about an incredible dude. Teddy has vaulted to the top of my favorite presidents list. More about the book? Its been in print for 30 or so years, and still sells well.
Having just finished this book, my curiosity is piqued to see how mature 40 year old Theodore orchestrates the office of the presidency having earned the infamous title of "madman" from a contemporary.

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Dec 18, 2011

haetmonger rated it:

[Jacob] Riis put the question directly. Was he working to be President? The effect, wrote [Lincoln] Steffens, "was frightening."

TR leaped to his feet, ran around the desk, and fists clenched, teeth bared, he seemed about to throttle Riis, who cowered away, amazed.

"Don't you dare ask me that," TR yelled at Riis. "Don't you put such ideas into my head. No friend of mine would ever say a thing like that, you—you—"

Riis's shocked face or TR'

More...

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Jan 22, 2009

William Blake rated it:

Briefly, I have learned that while Theodore Roosevelt may well not be our greatest President, he is certainly amongst our most interesting (full disclosure: I'm more or less stealing that line from another review I came across of this book). Roosevelt the young man, and Roosevelt the aspiring politician, impresses me mostly for his (truly astounding) energy and earnestness, and it seems clear that Morris is at pains to emphasize them both. He tends to gloss over a bit Roosevelt's often startling More...

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Jan 23, 2008

Billy rated it:

Dee-Lighted!
What an amazing person TR was. I keep thinking maybe he was just born at the right time and that is how he makes himself look so good all the time, but maybe that personality could do it today. This book covers his birth up to his vice-presidency. An amazing and very readable account which I would recommend to any couch potato seeking inspiration.

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Apr 07, 2010

Antonio rated it:

The further you get into this biography of Roosevelt’s life before the presidency, the more the title fits. Roosevelt’s path, after dropping him as a notable Commissioner of Police in New York City, takes on a logic, a momentum, that nobody can stop; all one can do is watch him rise, to the Assistant Secretary of Navy, to the hero of the Rough Riders, to the Governor of New York, to the Vice-Presidency, and to the job that many saw him headed for since his 20s, the President of the United States More...

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Sep 25, 2011

Rob rated it:

Edmund Morris's first volume in the life of Theodore Roosevelt is one of the best presidential biographies I have ever read. Morris is an excellent writer and presents what could have been pretty dry-as-dust information in a fascinating and entertaining way. I can't wait to begin volume two, Thedore Rex.

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