Reviews

• Wow, amazing! I was expecting just information on Roosevelt, but got a whole lot of backstory to the family, too. David McCullough is an amazing author!

• This lovely book is focused entirely on TR's younger years, just up to his mid-20s or so. This is a period of TR's life that other books about him often deal with relatively lightly, if at all, focused as they understandably are on such things as the Rough Riders and (particularly) his Presidency. In McCullough's introduction to the book, he argues that "one cannot really know Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth President of the United States, without knowing what sort of man his father was." He goes on to say he hopes readers "come away from the book with a strong sense of what a great man" TR's father indeed was. I believe he persuasively makes his case, entertainingly illuminating how TR developed (both before and after his father's early death at only 46) into the personality we remember. The book has a great deal of interesting information from original sources (particularly letters) that I've not encountered elsewhere, and it's easy to see why it won McCullough's second National Book Award and his first Los Angeles Times Prize for Biography. However, I'll note one small criticism of, at least, the Kindle version: the unusual number of typographical errors, most relating to punctuation. For example, apostrophes were too often missing in words that without a doubt needed one, or vice versa. It occurred often enough to be a bit of a distraction. I should note once again that I read it in Kindle format, not print form, and it appears to be one of his earlier books (the original edition being 1981). It may possibly be that when the Kindle version was produced later, it did not receive adequate editorial review. That small reservation to one side, this was a marvelous book, one which I enjoyed almost - but not quite - as much as my favorite book by this author, "The Wright Brothers."

• A great read.

• David Mc Cullough is a great historian and a very good writer.

• On the cover of David McCullough’s MORNINGS ON HORSEBACK, a young Teddy Roosevelt stares past the reader, rugged and confident. But don’t be fooled: the former president isn’t this book’s true focus. If it were, it would just be another Roosevelt biography. But it’s much more. It’s the story of a family. It’s a look into an age that swelled with exuberance and possibility. To understand the 20th Century’s first president, one needs to understand his fascinating roots. McCullough ushers us into the Roosevelt’s Manhattan enclave, where we’re introduced to Teddy’s parents: Mittie (the consummate Southern lady) and Theodore (the dapper New York scion). They inhabit a life ripped straight from an Edith Wharton novel. These opening chapters bring into focus the complex, charming nest that hatched such a peculiar, dynamic President. Undoubtedly Teddy is iconic - the man has his face carved into a mountain for Pete’s sake - which can make us forget that he was more than just a President: he was a brother, a son, and a nephew. The book’s opening hundred pages explore this simple truth. When Teddy leaves Manhattan for Harvard and, later, a budding political career, the book loses momentum. The slowness hits a particularly dense shoal when McCullough details the 1884 Republican primary. Anyone who’s read enough 19th century history knows that era’s political conventions are fatally boring - page after page of bargaining, politicking, and negotiation. McCullough tries his very best, but is unable to add much color to the convention’s blandness. Some redemption is delivered in the chapters devoted to Teddy’s Dakota years. The man rode horses across the steppe, speculated on cattle, dealt with scofflaws, and nearly found himself drawn into a duel with a local kingpin (and sharpshooter, mind you). It’s exciting stuff. Despite the flaws, it’s a good book. McCullough brings a fascinating era to life and makes the reader a part-time resident for 360 wonderful pages. You’ll come away from the experience with a fuller understanding of an historical figure. And, ultimately, isn’t that the goal of every biography?

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