Book reviews

Seven books are reviewed and one title receives attention because of its reissue in this crowded edition of the “Book Reviews” section. John A. Gable, editor of the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal, reviews three works, including an evaluation of Theodore Roosevelt as a politician, a biography of Roosevelt, and a historical novel. Gable likes David H. Burton’s Theodore Roosevelt, American Politician though he disagrees with some of Burton’s analysis, but he is less enthusiastic about H.W. Brands’s T.R.: The Last Romantic, partly because he faults Brands for never properly defining what he means by “romantic.” Gable praises The Angel of Darkness, Caleb Carr’s sequel to his very popular The Alienist, because both “successfully teach readers about various aspects of American life a century ago.” 

Henry J. Hendrix finds that in Theodore Roosevelt and the British Empire, William N. Tilchin provides a plethora of evidence to support his thesis that Roosevelt wanted to forge a closer relationship with Great Britain. Michael L. Manson commends the many illustrations used to populate Ron Ziel’s pictorial history of the Spanish-American War, Birth of the American Century. In a brief review, Elizabeth E. Roosevelt says that William T. Hagan’s Theodore Roosevelt and Six Friends of the Indian shows how a range of personalities tried to influence Roosevelt’s stance on Native Americans as both Civil Service Commissioner and President. Gregory A. Wynn criticizes George Grant for trying to pigeonhole Roosevelt as a Christian conservative in his Carry a Big Stick, and he says that the book’s factual errors and exaggerations make it of little value to Roosevelt scholars. 

“Book Reviews” notes that William H. Harbaugh’s Power and Responsibility: The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt, “the best one-volume complete biography,” has been reissued in a new hardcover edition. A photograph of Gable and Carr and two photographs of Roosevelt with members of the Rough Riders appear in the section.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1998

Creator(s)

Gable, John A.; Hendrix, Henry J.; Roosevelt, Elizabeth E.; Wynn, Gregory A.; Manson, Michael L., 1936-; Unknown

Language

English

Period

Theodore Roosevelt and Public Memory (1919-present)

Page Count

8

Production Method

Printed

Record Type

Image

Resource Type

Magazine article

Rights

No permission is required from the Theodore Roosevelt Association to use items in the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal collection for educational purposes. For permissions, contact William Tilchin at (516) 921-6319 or by email at wnt@bu.edu.

Citation