Back to the Future - The Bully Puplit
I read Doris Kearns Goodwin’s The Bully Pulpit; Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism during the recent election season but purposely waited to “let the dust settle a bit” before writing my review.
I found Goodwin’s research to be impeccably done. Though I hold a master’s degree in history, the era covered in this book is one that, sadly, I have largely overlooked. That said, recent events demonstrate that history does, indeed, repeat itself sometimes in not-so-good ways. Though Goodwin wrote this book before the events of 2014-2016, the parallels to those events and those particularly from 1910-1912 are amazingly striking. Vicious smear campaigns, official corruption, strife over trade and tariffs, disputes over income inequality and corporate greed and power, political cronyism, and the role of the media in influencing voters – it’s all there. There is even the saga of a fractured Republican Party repeated in 2016, 104 years after the infamous rift between Roosevelt and Taft. 2016 could have been ripped from the headlines of 2012.
As I noted, the book is meticulously researched. My only complaint would be the inclusion of, perhaps, too much background with respect to the Taft and Roosevelt families. While I am aware of the importance of family background in shaping one’s life philosophy and world view, I found the book to be a little top-heavy in that respect. As I read the first 125-150 pages, I found myself drowning in detail to the extent that it became very difficult to focus on the larger picture. That made the read seem to drag as I tried to recall and sort out those details which might appear to be the most relevant later in the work. This gives me a bit of trepidation as I prepare, at some point, to begin tackling Goodwin’s Team of Rivals. The saving grace is that the period covered in that work has always held more interest for me.
With all of that in mind, the book is comprehensive and well-done, meriting serious attention. My suggestion would be to read a less-detailed history of the period first as well as other biographies of both Roosevelt and Taft.
I found Goodwin’s research to be impeccably done. Though I hold a master’s degree in history, the era covered in this book is one that, sadly, I have largely overlooked. That said, recent events demonstrate that history does, indeed, repeat itself sometimes in not-so-good ways. Though Goodwin wrote this book before the events of 2014-2016, the parallels to those events and those particularly from 1910-1912 are amazingly striking. Vicious smear campaigns, official corruption, strife over trade and tariffs, disputes over income inequality and corporate greed and power, political cronyism, and the role of the media in influencing voters – it’s all there. There is even the saga of a fractured Republican Party repeated in 2016, 104 years after the infamous rift between Roosevelt and Taft. 2016 could have been ripped from the headlines of 2012.
As I noted, the book is meticulously researched. My only complaint would be the inclusion of, perhaps, too much background with respect to the Taft and Roosevelt families. While I am aware of the importance of family background in shaping one’s life philosophy and world view, I found the book to be a little top-heavy in that respect. As I read the first 125-150 pages, I found myself drowning in detail to the extent that it became very difficult to focus on the larger picture. That made the read seem to drag as I tried to recall and sort out those details which might appear to be the most relevant later in the work. This gives me a bit of trepidation as I prepare, at some point, to begin tackling Goodwin’s Team of Rivals. The saving grace is that the period covered in that work has always held more interest for me.
With all of that in mind, the book is comprehensive and well-done, meriting serious attention. My suggestion would be to read a less-detailed history of the period first as well as other biographies of both Roosevelt and Taft.
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