Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life

Abstract

"Too often we see TR only as he is at Mount Rushmore, a larger-than-life monument carved in stone...far from being flesh and blood." So Kathleen Dalton writes in her introduction to this rich and revealing biography. And as she describes the arc of Roosevelt's life from his birth to his death, she delves beneath the popular image--one that Roosevelt helped to perpetuate--to discover the real TR. Dalton traces the twinned evolution of TR's personal and political life, from his cosseted childhood to his innovative, sometimes demagogic presidency, to his acceptance of the first Nobel Peace Prize awarded to an American, to his passionate advocacy of social justice, and, as he grew older, his increasing radicalism. She pays particular attention to the influence of Roosevelt's father, who promoted manliness and "muscular Christianity" in his son, and to Roosevelt's gentler and more loving family life with his own wife and children. Dalton illuminates both his popular and his more substantial legacy: as the architect of the modern presidency, as a world leader who boldly met the needs of the new century, and as the president who redefined America's place in the world.

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