The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

In The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Edmund Morris gives us an amazing biography of an amazing man. This book covers TR's adventurous life from birth until the presidency. Much like his engaging subject, Morris is as much at ease with the intricacies of 19th-century New York politics as he is with the sweeping vistas of the Dakota Badlands.

The rapidity of Roosevelt's rise to power can only be described as astounding: A New York state legislator at 23, minority leader at 24, mayoral candidate at 28. Equally remarkable was the breadth and depth of Teddie's (he despised the nickname) experience and knowledge. He knew at least five languages, authored definitive books on topics as varied as early-1800s naval history and Western flora and flauna, and was a voracious reader, tearing through as many as three books a day, even as president. He was both cowboy and Eastern elite, scholar and politician, soldier and strategist. Roosevelt's life would make for implausible fiction, were it not true.

His life was not immune from tragedy, however. In the book's most subdued chapter, Roosevelt, only twenty-four years old, is faced with inconcievable anguish after the death of his young wife, Alice, and his mother on the same day in the same house, of separate diseases. His loss was met with the same determination with which Roosevelt charged up San Juan Hill in Cuba, but it affected him more. He eventually remarried, but he never wrote of and rarely mentioned his dead wife for the rest of his life.

Roosevelt was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1897, and lost no time in implementing his strategy to make the United States a major world power. America was destined for greatness, he argued, and any self-respecting nation should have a grand, imperial navy. When war with Spain broke out in 1898, he resigned his prestigious federal job to join the Army and lead men in battle. And yes, he was good at that, too.

The book closes with Roosevelt winning the New York governor's race in 1898, and then becoming McKinley's vice president at age 42. Tomorrow I will give my review of Morris' next chapter in a proposed trilogy of biographies, Theodore Rex, which covers Roosevelts' eight years as president.

And now, I must take a moment to gush. I've read and loved several great biographies by many accomplished historians, but The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt surpasses them all in its beauty, its empathy, and its insight. I can't recommend it highly enough.

P. S. -- On an interesting sidenote, Roosevelt loathed Thomas Jefferson, seeing him as weak and lacking in character.