For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: https://www.ManOfLaBook.com

Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris is the second installment in the trilogy about the life of President Theodore Roosevelt. This trilogy is considered to be one of the best sources on the life of the 26th President of the United States.

After finishing The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, I was looking forward to reading this book. I was looking forward to another exciting book, which shined a spotlight on Roosevelt’s eccentric personality, and sense of adventure.

Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris starts where the last one ended, President McKinley died, and Vice-President Roosevelt ascended to the highest office in the land. Politics and policy took front and center in this book, which was interesting, but Mr. Roosevelt’s life to a second seat.

Mr. Morris is certainly a gifted writer, I was especially interested in reading about his conservation policies, the Panama Canal, and the Russo-Japanese War (for which he won the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize) which I knew little about. This is a biography, however, and while it covers these subjects in great detail, personal tragedies and family life only merited a few sentences, a paragraph at the most.

Teddy Roosevelt was a fascinating and exciting man. He shot live rounds in the White House gardens, wrestled with all his children (including the girls), took dignitaries on excruciating hikes, had surgery on his leg with anesthesia, and enjoyed putting on protective gear with an opponent, and beating each other with sticks.
But these excellent stories are few, stuck between pages and pages of policy discussion and politicizing.

Alice Roosevelt or Princess Alice also gets mentioned a lot. I know she was a bona fide celebrity at her time, and even had a color named after her. She is an interesting subject, a wild teen, who became a witty, influential woman, and a magnet for all kinds of mischief and scandal. However, the rest of the family rarely gets mentioned. I can understand that because Alice performed official duties along with her future husband, Nicholas Longworth, and future President William Howard Taft.

The book ends with Teddy Roosevelt living the White House, but on his way for Africa. I read the incredible book, The River of Doubt by Candice Millard, about this journey, and am looking forward to read how the last installment of the trilogy approaches this subject. ( )

Case 14 shelf 5

A wonderful read about one of our great USA presidents, who certainly did earn to have his face on Mount Rushmoore among the others there =) ( )

NA

Teddy Roosevelt set the agenda for twentieth-century America. After assuming the presidency because of an assassination (McKinley), Roosevelt provided a successful progressive trajectory for the coming century. Because of him, America prospered and prospers still.

He impacted just about every major area with his touch. He helped start the area of land conservation. He introduced legislation to improve transportation by ending the railway trust. In foreign policy, he mediated negotiations to end the Russian-Japanese War and won a Nobel Peace Prize for it. He was called the greatest American president since Abraham Lincoln. Indeed, in terms of impact of twentieth-century presidents, he shares company with only Ronald Reagan and his cousin Frankline Roosevelt.

As a part of a biographical trilogy, Morris tells the tale of his presidency from when Roosevelt found out he was president (in a well-told and interesting introductory chapter) all the way to Roosevelt’s departure from the White House after handing the reigns to Taft. Roosevelt’s gregarious personality is difficult to capture because of its outsized strength; however, Morris seems equal to the task and often quotes TR to provide vivid and intimate access to the genius.

Are you interested in how America transitioned from a gilded age of nineteenth century sputtering to the bustling giant that it is today? You have to go through the masterful Teddy Roosevelt. Do you want to learn about him? If you do, you have to go through his masterful biographer Edmund Morris. Do you want to master his rise? Read the entire masterful trilogy.

( )