Carr, Caleb, 1955-

John A. Gable reviews three of the five books found in the “Book Reviews” section. Gable praises Edward Renehan’s The Lion’s Pride: Theodore Roosevelt and His Family in Peace and War with its emphasis on the fate of the Roosevelt family during World War I, and he summarizes Sherwin Gluck’s study of how Oyster Bay, New York, became home to the summer White House during the Roosevelt administration with offices located above a grocery store. In reviewing Douglas Brinkley’s American Heritage History of the United States, Gable highlights Brinkley’s coverage of Theodore Roosevelt, especially his views on conservation. The section also promotes the publication of a new edition of the Theodore Roosevelt Association’s collection of Roosevelt’s speeches, The Man in the Arena, and a Modern Library version of The Naval War of 1812, both of which feature introductions by Gable.

An advertisement for Blocklyn Books of Oyster Bay, New York, appears on the last page of the section.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1999

John A. Gable asserts that Theodore Roosevelt’s record as a conservationist and an environmentalist has not been adequately explored by historians and biographers, and he notes the work of Tweed Roosevelt in trying to correct this shortcoming. Gable also argues that Roosevelt, a man of many seeming contradictions, was both a use-conservationist and a preservationist when it came to natural resources, and he quotes Theodore Roosevelt and cites examples from his record as president to bolster his argument. The section also includes a text box with a quote from Theodore Roosevelt, an announcement about the establishment of the Theodore Roosevelt Center for American Civilization at Tulane University, and information about the 2005 annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association.

The article includes ten photographs of Gable with various figures, including three Presidents of the United States–Jimmy Carter, George Bush, and George W. Bush.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

2004-10-23

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.

Report on the 81st annual meeting of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) held in Albany, New York, in October 2000. The report highlights the elaborate dinner, the keynote speaker, the conferral of the TRA’s Junior Officer of the Year Award for the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and a roundtable of collectors of Theodore Roosevelt memorabilia. The report also gives updates on visits to the TRA’s website, the publication of a TRA CD-ROM, and provides results of the TRA’s annual elections for its officers and leadership. The report includes the speech given by David Allen Woods, the recipient of the Junior Officer of the Year Award, and it provides an update on the status of Pine Knot, Roosevelt’s presidential retreat in Virginia.

 

Three photographs of the speaker, guests, and dignitaries at the meeting accompany the report along with a text box listing financial supporters of the annual gathering.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

The conferring of the annual Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) police awards for New York City, Boston, and Western New York state opens this edition of the “News and Notes” section. The accomplishments of each of the winners are detailed as are the ceremonies marking each award. A report on the TRA’s annual meeting and dinner follows with details of its speakers, field trips, and annual elections. The conferring of the TRA’s Junior Officer Leadership Award for a member of the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt is highlighted, and the section reprints an address by Edith Derby Williams given at the annual meeting.

Other news from the section includes the marking of twenty years as Executive Director of the TRA by John A. Gable; the awarding of the annual natural history research grants by the American Museum of Natural History; and the passing of TRA Trustee Oren Root. New York Governor George E. Pataki’s admiration for Theodore Roosevelt is noted as are the accomplishments of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. and his son, Quentin, on the fiftieth anniversary of the invasion of Normandy in World War II. “News and Notes” also trumpets recent works on Theodore Roosevelt by Caleb Carr, H. Paul Jeffers, and Joseph R. Ornig.

Eleven photographs appear in the section, including eight from the annual meeting, two from the police awards ceremonies, and one of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. with his son Quentin.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

The Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA) offers seven books by or about Theodore Roosevelt for sale: two collections of Roosevelt’s writings and speeches; two deal with his homes, Sagamore Hill and Pine Knot; two evaluate his life in essays and pictures; and the novel The Alienist covers his time as Police Commissioner of New York City. The TRA also offers for sale the autobiography of Selwa Roosevelt. The ad includes an order form and an illustration of Roosevelt reading in a rocking chair.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1994-1995

Creator(s)

Theodore Roosevelt Association

This edition of “Book Notes” lives up to its billing as it features two brief reviews and notes about five other works previously reviewed in the Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal. The section praises two new works, a biography of Alice Lee Roosevelt and a study of the Rough Riders from New Mexico, and it promotes Joseph R. Ornig’s study of the River of Doubt expedition and three books on Theodore Roosevelt’s tenure as Police Commissioner of New York City.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal

Creation Date

1994-1995

Creator(s)

Unknown

The combined “Books” and “Book Notes” sections contain four lengthy reviews, a brief review essay, and a notice about five works related to the life of Theodore Roosevelt. It also includes a short excerpt from Roosevelt’s writings on conservation and a report by Wallace Finley Dailey on the status of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University. Christopher Volpe praises Edward Renehan’s biography of John Burroughs and highlights Burroughs’s friendships with Roosevelt and the poet Walt Whitman. Volpe notes that Burroughs was a very popular figure as a nature writer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, but that he fell into obscurity after his death in 1921.

John A. Gable admires the cartoons and commentary found in J. David Valaik’s Theodore Roosevelt, An American Hero in Caricature which reproduces forty-seven caricatures of Roosevelt found in the pages of Puck magazine. Gable also favors Caleb Carr’s historical novel, The Alienist, which revolves around Roosevelt’s tenure as Police Commissioner of New York City. Gable, deeply skeptical of fictional portrayals of Roosevelt, finds Carr’s treatment “entirely accurate,” and he notes how other characters that people the novel have roots in real persons.

James G. Lewis reviews Char Miller’s Gifford Pinchot: The Evolution of an American Conservationist and notes that the work challenges the established view of the relationship between Pinchot and John Muir. Lewis says that Miller is “writing revisionist environmental history” by providing a nuanced portrait of Pinchot. Some of the selections as well as some of the commentary found in Mario R. Di Nunzio’s Theodore Roosevelt: An American Mind are questioned by the anonymous reviewer.

Wallace Finley Dailey, Curator of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University, provides a detailed update on manuscript and book additions to the collection; the use of the collection holdings by numerous authors; and the adoption of new computer based cataloging technology. Dailey also discusses fundraising efforts, exhibitions using the collection materials, and donations from members of the Roosevelt family. Photographs of Burroughs, Pinchot, Carr, and Valiak appear in the sections along with a view of the Theodore Roosevelt Gallery at Harvard.