Often overlooked in his day as a boisterous gadabout, Theodore Roosevelt has received increased attention as a shaper of modern U.S. politics and political institutions.
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Here are five books all presidential historians should read:
1. Leading the list of Roosevelt biographies for layman and scholar alike is Edmund Morris’s three-volume biography: “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt,” detailing his early life and ascent to the presidency; “Theodore Rex,” detailing how he increased the influence of the Executive Branch in American life and America’s influence abroad; and “Colonel Roosevelt,” a title taken from how Roosevelt preferred to be addressed, which talks about the Rough Rider trying to adapt in a world that changed under him.
“Mr. Morris’s research is thorough enough to amplify an already well-documented part of the Roosevelt story,”
The New York Times wrote of the third volume, published three decades after Morris began his work.
2. “Theodore Roosevelt: Preacher of Righteousness” – Joshua Hawley, judicial clerk to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, “examines Roosevelt’s political thought more deeply than ever before to arrive at a fully revised understanding of his legacy,”
according to Yale University Press. The book delved into Roosevelt’s “warrior Republicanism,” credited with “(making) the Progressive Era possible.”
Urgent: Who Is the Greatest American President in History?
3. “Mother Nature’s Son, With a Big Stick (and Rifle)” – Douglas Brinkley focused exclusively on Roosevelt the naturalist and his role in environmental conservation. Brinkley argued Roosevelt’s role in creating national parks and other aspects of his obsession with nature are often overlooked because “it has been hidden in plain sight,”
The New York Times said.
4. “Theodore Roosevelt and the Modern Presidency” – This book explored Roosevelt’s role in “invigorating the executive branch in both the domestic and the foreign arenas,”
Austria’s Mises Institute, which calls him “the first modern president,” said. By Thomas E. Woods Jr., the book delved into how Roosevelt involved the Executive Branch in the minutiae of many aspects of life in the United States, from business regulation to changing the rules of college football.
5. “The Naval War of 1812” – Roosevelt has been credited with turning the United States Navy into an instrument of global power, even before his time as assistant secretary of the Navy. He completed his own book, “The Naval War of 1812,” by the time he was 24 years old and caught the attention of the grizzled Navy strategists of his day. As president, he worked with Congress and the Navy to “(increase) the size, armament, armor, speed, efficiency, and overall capacity of the Navy and its vessels,”
according to theodoreroosevelt.org. This book offers a look at the seeds of that thinking.
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