A vast and sprawling exploration of one of the most
interesting presidents to ever serve in the White House, Edmund Morris’ trilogy
of books (The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex and Colonel Roosevelt) explore
Roosevelt’s life before, during and after his tenure as leader of the free
world, from his childhood struggling with ill health, to his youth and travels
around the world with his parents, and beyond to the tragedies of his adulthood
that led him down the path to the White House. Throughout, Morris gives a very
rounded portrayal of the man behind the legends, as well as providing the
proper context of the world in which Roosevelt lived and how both it affected
him and he affected it.
Morris’ writing is never dry and he has the descriptive eye
of a novelist – some of the passages following Roosevelt into the wild or
through the Amazonian jungles are fantastic. Roosevelt himself comes across as
a flawed, brilliant man, able to command great loyalty but whose reluctance to
release his hold on the Presidency forced a breach in his own party. It was
amazing to realise how much Roosevelt did after he left the big chair – his subsequent
runs ended up creating the Progressive Party and saw the Democrats win the
presidency for the first time in decades.
All in all, Morris’ trilogy is the ultimate exploration of a
president, full of wonderful writing worthy of the larger than life Roosevelt.
I gave all three books 4 stars.
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