The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris (2001, Paperback, Reprint)

This book, which was the first major work of Edmund Morris, really brought an almost forgotten 26th US President, Theodore Roosevelt, alive to an entire new generation of readers. Morris, who worked closely with Dr. John Gable, the late Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association in Oyster Bay, brought TR & his times to life in a way not done in almost a half century. A young historian, originally from Kenya, Morris wote most of the copy in TR's library in his home at Sagamore Hill on Long Island.

Morris has a genuine knack for taking the reader into the life and times of TR, the most talented and dynamic president of the US in the 20th Century, bar none. If you have any doubts about that statement, read the book and see for yourself. Spending years in the stacks of Harvard's Houghton Library collection of TR's letters as well as the Library of Congress, Morris had access to almost every one of the tens of thousands of documents as well as the estimated 8.5 MILLION words TR wrote.

An asthmatic & weak child, young Teedie, as he was called, was born into moderate wealth in 1858 on 20th Street in Manhatten to a old Dutch family that had already lived in NYC 2 HUNDRED years before his birth. Endowed with an uncommon intellect, young Theodore struggled just to breath and live a life approaching normalcy. It wasn't until he went to college at Harvard in 1876 that he was largely free of this debililitating illness said to be like trying to breath thru a coffee stirer. TR DID overcome his childhood weaknesses taking to heart his father, Theodore Sr, injunction, "you must MAKE your body." He travelled to Europe twice before he was 17 visiting the Nile River, Rome, and winterin in Dresden where he learned life-long facility in German. A boy with a dreamy romanticism that saw the world thru the eyes of his heroes from Alexander the Great to Davy Crockett & Daniel Boone &, of course, his father's friend & savior of the US Union, Abraham Lincoln. When he attempted to fight back against 2 bullies only to be handled like a rag doll and abjectly humiliated. Vowing to learn to fight for himself, he took boxing lessons, built up his body & continued to develop his mind. Endued with the virtues of duty to his City & his country, he entered Harvard in 1876, graduating 27th in his class & Phi Beta Kappa. Bored in his last year, he wrote the seminal history of the rise of the US Navy and the War of 1812. Winning the hand in marriage of his sweet heart, Alice Hathaway Lee, TR graduated from Harvard & soon plunged himself into the dirty world of NY politics. Instead of being sullied by the experience, the young TR was exhilerated by his opportunity to make a difference, rising to a top leadership position in the NY Republican party. With the birth of his first daughter, Alice, his new wife died only 3 days after her delivery of kidney failure & his own mother died the same day, depriving TR of of his mother and wife at a critical time in his life. Deeply depressed, he finished his NY General Assembly duties, attended the Chicago Republican Convention & headed out to the end of the westward rail lines, getting off at the end of the line, 30 miles before WY. Plunging into ranching, he had incredible adventures. Returning to NYC to marry Edith Carow, he plunged back into politics becoming NYC Police Commissioner, US Civil Service commissioner, Navy Secretary & Rough Rider Colonel, Span-American War hero, NY Govenor & 26th US President - Great Book!