American fiction--Book reviews

A collection of Theodore Roosevelt’s speeches in North Dakota and two novels, a Western and an account of the Spanish American War in Cuba, comprise the works under scrutiny in the “Book Reviews” section. John A. Gable praises James F. Vivian’s The Romance of My Life: Theodore Roosevelt’s Speeches in North Dakota because it brings to life speeches which had not previously been published and because it demonstrates Roosevelt’s “long and affectionate relationship with the state and people of North Dakota.” Elizabeth E. Roosevelt likes Brian Garfield’s Western “Manifest Destiny” which portrays the people and events of Roosevelt’s time in Dakota from 1884 to 1886, with the Marquis de Mores playing the role of the villain. Perry D. Floyd also likes Remember Santiago, which he calls “fictional oral history,” despite the fact that Roosevelt and his Rough Riders are largely absent from the story.

Gable concludes the section with an essay, “TR in Fiction,” in which he argues that the revival of interest in Roosevelt has led to his appearance in many novels and may lead to readers searching out more nonfiction titles about him. But Gable also warns that there is a danger that the fictional portrayals will lead to a distorted picture of Roosevelt in the public mind.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1989

Three works come under consideration in the “Book Reviews” section. Cole Patrick looks at both the 1941 and 1989 editions of the Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia. He comments on the work of Albert Bushnell Hart in compiling and editing the first edition, and he quotes from William Allen White’s foreword from 1941. Patrick explains the various additions made to the 1989 edition by John A. Gable of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), including a bibliography, a chronology of Theodore Roosevelt’s life, and a history of the TRA.

Tweed Roosevelt examines Bartle Bull’s Safari: A Chronicle of Adventure and highlights its coverage of Theodore Roosevelt’s African safari of 1909-1910, and he also looks at other figures, British and American, who made safaris. He praises the book’s organization and illustrations but faults it for not giving a sense of who the hunters were as people, Roosevelt included. Marilyn E. Weigold praises Elizabeth Winthrop’s novel, In My Mother’s House, for its “precise descriptions of life in Manhattan in the last few decades of the nineteenth century.” The novel’s main character is based on the life of the daughter of Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, Theodore Roosevelt’s sister.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1989

Four books are scrutinized in this edition of the “Book Reviews” section. A catalog to the Theodore Roosevelt film collection at the Library of Congress is discussed, and the review notes how the collection was assembled, how the catalog is organized, and it highlights other Roosevelt collections and their printed guides. Kenneth D. Crews reviews two historical novels about Roosevelt, Bully! by Mark Schorr and The Big Stick by Lawrence Alexander. Crews finds more entertainment value in Schorr’s book, and he asserts that both titles cater to simplistic and stereotyped views of Roosevelt at the expense of a carefully crafted character. John A. Gable examines Theodore Roosevelt: Wilderness Writings edited by Paul Schullery, and most of the review focuses on, and quotes extensively from, Schullery’s introduction. Gable notes that Schullery tackles the thorny issue of Roosevelt’s hunting, and he describes how the book is organized.  

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1986

Creator(s)

Gable, John A.; Crews, Kenneth D.

Perry D. Floyd reviews Gore Vidal’s historical novel Empire, and while he expresses frustration at Vidal’s “deceitful lapses” and struggle to maintain fidelity to the historical record, Floyd finds the portrait of Theodore Roosevelt drawn in the novel to be quite sympathetic. Floyd highlights some of the other historical figures that Vidal has written about, such as Abraham Lincoln, and he contends that Vidal as a novelist is often able to illuminate historical figures in ways that historians and biographers cannot.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1987

Creator(s)

Floyd, Perry D.

Four brief book reviews comprise the “Book Notes” column. John A. Gable reviews Michael Teague’s oral history of Alice Roosevelt Longworth and praises it for its use of 170 photographs, and he also examines Stephen Fox’s John Muir and His Legacy which not only looks at Muir’s life and work, but at many lesser known conservationists who comprise Muir’s legacy. Elizabeth E. Roosevelt reviews Thomas G. Dyer’s Theodore Roosevelt and the Idea of Race and finds its chapters on Native Americans and African Americans valuable while Janice Marino finds William L. DeAndrea’s novel The Lunatic Fringe worthless.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1981

Creator(s)

Gable, John A.; Roosevelt, Elizabeth E.; Marino, Janice, 1931-2017

The “Book Notes” column features reviews of two historical novels. The Adventures of the Stalwart Companions pairs a young Theodore Roosevelt with Sherlock Holmes to solve a murder in Gilded Age New York City. Marvin R. Morrison outlines the plot of the novel in some detail and says that it “is good reading.” The Bad Lands is a western based on Roosevelt and the Marquis de Mores though neither is a character in the novel. Elizabeth E. Roosevelt provides a very brief review, says the book is not very good, and asks readers to instead read Hermann Hagedorn’s Roosevelt in the Bad Lands.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1979

Creator(s)

Morrison, Marvin R.; Roosevelt, Elizabeth E.