false 76789 5 <div>In his time, there was no more popular national figure than Theodore Roosevelt. It was not just the energy he brought to every political office he held or his unshakable moral convictions that made him so popular, or even his status as a bonafide war hero&#8212;the man who led the Rough Riders up San Juan Hill in Cuba during the Spanish-American war. Most important, Theodore Roosevelt was loved by the people because this scion of a privileged New York family loved America and Americans.And yet, according to Bill Brands, if we look at the private Roosevelt without blinders, we see a man whose great public strengths hid enormous personal deficiencies. His highly exaggerated, and often uncompromising ways drove many of his business and personal friends crazy. His historical writings, which Brands quotes from extensively, are nothing if not a portrait of a boy&#8217;s endless macho fantasies. He was often so full of himself that his speeches and writings were the frequent subject of fierce satire in their time.Even more revealing, according to Brands, was Roosevelt as son, brother, husband, and father. According to Brands, to understand both the public and private Roosevelt one must understand the impact of his father&#8217;s death while he was still a child, denying him the opportunity to come to terms with his own manhood. When his first wife Alice died of complications from childbirth, leaving behind a baby daughter Alice, his response was to run away to shoot Buffalo in the west, leaving the newborn infant to the care of his unmarried sister Bamie. When his second wife Edith was seriously, perhaps fatally ill, he left her to fight in the Spanish-American war. His only concern when his brother Elliot, who had been his only friend as a child, became an alcoholic was to hide the news from the public. Determined that his four sons would not dishonor his belief that men, to achieve their manhood, must test themselves in war, he arranged for each to serve, often in the frontlines, during WWI. His youngest son Quentin would die in that cause.Beautifully written, powerfully moved by its subject, <i>TR</i> is nonetheless a biography more appropriate to today&#8217;s critical times.</div> 74275 1997 T.R: The Last Romantic total:97|5:27|4:40|3:23|2:5|1:2| 97 376 155 17 5 0 false false Tue Feb 03 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 05:50:24 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 05:50:24 -0800 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Feb 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 15:41:56 -0800 2009 Sat Feb 07 14:46:43 -0800 2009
There were nuggets of interest for me as I skimmed these 800 pages but it was just too meticulous for me.

On an extended safari Roosevelt killed "eight other lions, eight el...more...]]> 1 0 false false Mon Jul 21 15:34:26 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 21 15:39:49 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 22 11:41:24 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 22 11:45:20 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed May 28 13:01:23 -0700 2008 Thu May 29 02:57:20 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Sep 29 11:06:43 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 11:07:35 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Sun Nov 23 13:52:45 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 23 13:54:22 -0800 2008 1 2 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Thu Oct 01 06:44:02 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 01 06:44:02 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Feb 17 00:00:00 -0800 1962 Tue Jan 13 17:58:23 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 18:00:25 -0800 2009
If you are considering a biography not written by Mr. Brands, you are in the act of doing yourself a grave disservice.

N,

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I thought this was a great book! H.W. Brands gives an extremely fair representation of one of our nations most colorful men and presidents. Before reading I knew only vague ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Aug 31 19:31:56 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 18 16:54:22 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sat Jan 10 10:11:36 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 10 10:12:53 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Fri Aug 08 10:31:43 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 08 10:35:00 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Mar 31 14:45:21 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 31 14:47:04 -0700 2008 I should have just read the Teddy Roosevelt wikipedia entry and then decided if I needed to supplement that information with some serious reading before taking on this voluminous volume of letter-excerpt chains.]]> 4 0 false false Tue Nov 18 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Mar 06 09:41:56 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 26 06:37:48 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 08 09:50:55 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 08 09:51:41 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Mon Nov 02 17:38:22 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 17:38:22 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Oct 30 10:04:59 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 10:04:59 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Oct 30 01:26:01 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 01:26:01 -0700 2009