Theodore Rex: Edmund Morris (Modern Library Paperbacks)

Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris is a very good book detailing the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. It is a well-written, informative and detailed work outlining the effect that Roosevelt had upon both the office of the President and the United States. Theodore Roosevelt was a politican of firm views. A supporter of the market system, who nevertheless saw its flaws and inequities, he worked to reform a system which seemed stacked in the favour of cartels and monopolies. A Republican who was not afraid to challenge his own party on a variety of issues - although this ultimately caused problems and storred up resentments for the future - and was willing to use his undoubted popularity to appeal to the wider electorate in order to bring about change. A conservationist and a global statesman whose actions and measures preserved millions of acres of wilderness, but who was also one of the driving forces behind that great monument to industrial progress, the Panama Canal. Overall, an excellent book examining the extraordinary presidency of a remarkable man.

Edmund Morris writes an excellent book on Theodore Roosevelt's presidency. He comes across as probably the best U.S. President.being probably more Democrat than Republican in his ideas and used Congress to get those ideas passed as well as using executive powers to by-pass Congress when necessary. He was not anti-business, just against businesses using their power unfairly, and he was not pro-labour per se, just wanted labour to be treated fairly. He set the U.S.A. on course to become the world power that it now is. A book is well worth reading, giving and insight to Roosevelt's opinion of Germany and Japan that were becoming aggressive and an interesting episode is the tactics used to put a stop to illegal Japanese immigration.

Book 1 is available on kindle in the UK. As is book 3. This one, book 2, is only available on kindle in the USA, not the UK. This should be fixed.

Charts TDR's presidential years. Detailed, yet compelling read, look at President Roosevelt, the highs and the lows. Yet I doubt we will see the like of him again. Excellent history and essential reading.

The definitive biography of Theodore Roosevelt. Lyrical, detailed, engaging. But also insightful and accurate. Well written.

It says something about Theodore Roosevelt that this second volume, covering his White House years, is possibly the least interesting of the three. That a life could be more exciting and interesting in his years before and after the Presidency is something that could probably only be said about one President, and that's Theodore Roosevelt. That said, this volume really serves to highlight what a remarkable politician TR was. It's almost a shame that he was President in perhaps the one decade where little of world import happened. Although perhaps he was the reason so little happened! One can only wonder 'what if' someone like TR has been in the White House during WW1. Would America have taken so long to enter? Would he have stood Congress' refusal to ratify the League of Nations? Would it even have got to that point? For a man so famously aggressive and bellicose, it is telling that his most famous phrase is 'speak softly and carry a big stick'. TR understood perhaps better than anyone that an aggressive attitude and a powerful army often serves to remove the need to use them. His Presidency was often marked with battles with Congress, but it's interesting just how often TR came out on top. He was a master at manipulating the press, at twisting issues to serve his needs, at balancing one side against the other. He was also one of the few politicians, perhaps of any era, who really seemed to listen to the public mood. He began his Presidency promising to continue the conservative policies of McKinley and ended up very nearly a Progressive. For those of us who see what the Republican Party has become, it's fascinating to see TR backing so many things we almost think of as anathema to modern Republicans - the importance of the environment and conservation, the danger of massive corporations, the need for income and death taxes, the support of labour over corporate interests. Again, this is a masterful book. There are few public figures of whom I would be prepared to read such a massive three-volume biography, and I can think of few other biographers who could make such a read not just interesting, but entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable. Roll on, volume three!

The best book of the trilogy

ルーズベルトの名は知っていても、軍人出身の大統領で、先の世界大戦のときの人という程度の豆知識しかなかったのですが、ボブ・ウッドワードのプラン・オブ・アタックの中でジョージ・W・ブッシュがイラク戦の前のテキサスの自宅牧場で読んでいたという記述に出会い、興味をもって購入しました。強烈なキャラクターの主人公であるだけでなく、伝記中の伝記とアメリカで言われているだけあって、物語の展開などは巧みで、ルーズベルトの詳細はどうでもよい私のような読者も退屈することなく読めました。また、文章がいいので、抄本版のCDも買い、英語の勉強のために聞いています。たまたま読んだ本に引用されていて、厚い本なのに安いから買った程度の動機でも十分に満足できるものでした。

quello che cercavo

This is a terrific and very detailed biography of Theodore Roosevelt's presidential years. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to learn more about this great American president.

Detalhada biografia de um grande presidente.

"Theodore Rex," the sequel to presidential biographer Edmund Morris's Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt," is a thorough examination of the seven years Theodore Roosevelt (TR) spent in the White House as the 26th President of the United States. It picks right up where "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" ended - with the assassination of TR's predecessor, William McKinley. It ends on March 4, 1909, when Roosevelt reluctantly surrendered the reins of power to his hand-picked successor, William Howard Taft. By today's standards (or at least the standards set by the political pundits in the media), a President's overall "greatness" seems to be guided by whether or not he was responsible for at least one major positive accomplishment during his term(s) of office, while at the same time avoiding any major blunders. If you apply these standards to Theodore Roosevelt as he is portrayed in "Theodore Rex," he arguably ranks as one of the five greatest Presidents in our Nation's history. Not only was he responsible for "one" major accomplishment - he was responsible for many. As Morris points out, Theodore Roosevelt, more than any President before him, and maybe since, transformed the Presidency from an almost figurehead-like office into what it is today: the most prominent and powerful office in the world. In "Theodore Rex," Edmund Morris abandons the highly controversial literary device he used when writing "Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan" (in which he placed himself as a fictional observer of events), and wisely returns to what he does best: writing Presidential biographies with his stylishly crisp, clear, and highly entertaining prose. Never once does he let the pace of his eloquent narrative in "Theodore Rex" flag. I found myself immediately "hooked" while reading this superb book's first few pages. TR's means of handling his assumption of the Presidency after the assassination of William McKinley is a dramatic story in itself, and it's deftly handled by Morris. Nearly all of the major events of TR's presidency are handled with equal skill. "Theodore Rex" is a highly detailed and polished narrative that places both TR and his presidency in a decidedly positive light. Roosevelt is portrayed as a highly principled man, almost puritanical in his values, and unwilling to compromise on most deeply felt issues. Morris allows TR's youthful vigor, optimism, progressivism, and hunger for approval to shine through on every page. "Theodore Rex" shouldn't be mistaken as an exercise in hagiography, though. It is, at its heart, a scholarly, judicious, and finely balanced biography. Throughout the book, Morris provides an incisive analysis of Roosevelt and what he accomplished during his seven years as President. Successes and failures, good judgments and misjudgments... all are presented in equal measure. Of all the Presidential biographies I've read in recent years, "Theodore Rex" is one of the best. This eagerly anticipated sequel to "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt," written twenty years after its Pulitzer Prize-winning predecessor, is certainly its equal in quality of writing, scholarship, and insightful historical analysis. Not only that, but it's a great read!