The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 3 March 1998
by David McCullough
Theodore Roosevelt was an extraordinary character in American history. His face is up there on Mount Rushmore, but our education system seems to have left out a lot. The fact that Roosevelt was awarded the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the peace treaty ending the Russo-Japanese war reveals there is certainly more about him than most people know about our 26th president. This biography covers just the first half of Roosevelt's life, but does so with remarkable detail, quoting from a vast collection of letters exchanged between Teddy and his family. The author's intent is to show those things in Roosevelt's youth that most contributed to his presidential character; everything from his weakling image as an asthmatic child to his adventurous days in the North Dakota Badlands. The book is wonderfully readable and sympathetic, and does just as much to describe the Victorian times as Roosevelt's own growing character.
(For this book, McCullough was awarded the 1982 National Book Award for biography.)