Book Review: The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

All I can say is wow! I finished reading The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. This book covered Roosevelt’s life up until his presidency. Roosevelt was an intense active figure of his day. By the time he was President, he had done enough to satisfy three lifetimes.

I picked this book up at the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site in Buffalo, NY. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt is 920 pages long with 780 pages of reading material, the rest is notes and an index. Morris packed this book full of detail and it took me a little while to get through it all. I really enjoyed Morris’s writing style. It was an easy book to read, just a lot to absorb.

Morris arranged the book into 28 chapters. Each chapter focused on a significant point in Roosevelt’s life and career. By the time Roosevelt turned 43, he had written thirteen books, served as New York Assemblyman, Assistant Deputy of the Navy, Civil Service Commissioner, New York Police Commissioner, rancher, big game hunter, conservationist (sort of), Governor of New York, military commander, and much more.

As noted, the man was exhausting but very driven. He was so high energy that few could keep up with him. If he saw a problem, he would work tirelessly to correct it. He sought out corruption and worked to stamp it out. Often he would do it publicly using the press as a tool. Everything he did was newsworthy.

I will have to admit that Roosevelt was given many opportunities that normal people did not have. He was born into wealth and had already traveled a large part of the world before he finished his teens. As a child, Roosevelt was sickly but he worked tremendously hard to condition his body to keep illness at bay.

Roosevelt was an avid reader. He would consume a book a day… on a busy day. In most cases, he would read two to three books a day. He was particularly fond of history, nature, and naval operations. He studied and wrote about nature. To support his interests, he learned about taxidermy. Although Roosevelt is responsible for our National Park Service, he is also responsible for wiping out most of the animals on the planet. While I say this in jest, Roosevelt did go out on hunting expeditions and shoot hundreds of animals at a time. Many of them were preserved and given to museums around the world. In the end, he noted that his previous activities were excessive and worked more on conservation.

One of the things I found to be fascinating was the level of corruption found at all levels of government at the time. Roosevelt became a hero to many people because he took a stand against it.

The more I read about Theodore Roosevelt, the more I admired him. Since reading this book, I have also started to watch Ken Burns’ The Roosevelts. As I noted, Roosevelt is exhausting. He was definitely a force to be reckoned with. If you are interested in American history, I strongly recommend that you check out The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.

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File: Theodore Roosevelt and Family – 24 August 1907.jpg. (2018, February 1). Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. Retrieved 01:05, December 23, 2018 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Theodore_Roosevelt_and_Family_-_24_August_1907.jpg&oldid=284604699.