The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

by Edmund Morris

c.1979

The Modern Library: New York

780 pages

Why would Maggie spend two weeks and almost 800 pages on Teddy? I'll tell you.

Theodore Roosevelt is a character in Caleb Carr's The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness (both of which are amazing books that you probably should read if you like mysteries, or psychology, or crime solver stories: think CSI when fingerprinting and ballistics were revolutionary techniques.) He is also one of the very first examples of an exuberant person in Kay Redfield Jamison's Exuberance: The Passion for Life (which I haven't finished reading, because I got distracted, but made T.R. seem that much more interesting.)

Both of this representations made me intrigued by T.R.'s legendary energy, productivity and diversity of interests, so I asked Andrew, because he seems to know such things, if he could suggest a good biography. He suggested Morris, which I (of course) promptly forgot until the next time that he brought me to a bookstore. Turns out there are two volumes of Morris on Teddy, (with a third apparently "planned" but not existing now or listed as forthcoming anywhere. Anyone know what happened on that point?). I picked up the first one, and Andrew bought it for me (because he is amazing like that) and here we are.

And now Teddy and I have bonded. To the extent that despite the fact that I spent two weeks on this one (unheard of!) I am fully ready to dive into volume two at some point in the not too distant future. Anyway.

Two reasons: 1.) Theodore Roosevelt is fascinating. Totally and completely fascinating. It seems that he never lived a dull moment, or stopped moving or doing for a single instant, at least not in the first 40 years of his life. (That is all that are covered in this book, which goes up to the moment that he becomes president when McKinley is assassinated.) This was something that I suspected before reading the book, but something that was driven home even further by this account of his life. It seems that almost everyone that met T.R. felt the need to comment on his dynamic presence. More than anything, reading this book made me want to meet him, just so I could experience that presence and see what sort of impression he would make on me, since it seems that just meeting him was memorable for a good number of those that had the priviledge. 2.) Edmund Morris is a really great writer, who allows Theodore Roosevelt to be fascinating in a dynamic and flowing sort of way that makes you feel more like you a reading a story and less like you are reading history to the point that you really don't want to put the book down for the sake of doing other things. The book shockingly easy to read. This is something that I was worried about before I started reading, a fear that was totally unfounded.

So Theodore Roosevelt is now, in some ways, my hero. Here is a man that managed a level of productivity and action that nobody else I know or have read about could even dream of. He's a prolific writer and a reader to a level that puts me to shame. He takes jobs and attacks them with a ferocious energy that makes him easy to respect and impossible to ignore. He's amazing. As Jamison pointed out, he is the pinnacle of exuberance. Someone that approached life with a sincere and truly amazing energy and love of the new experiences, work, play and exploration that life is made of. You can't help but like him, and the descriptions written by people that knew him make it so you can't help but want not just to meet him, but also to be friends with him. It's abundantly clear how Teddy managed to become a nationally known personality, even before the creation of the television. His personality and presence are just that huge.

On top of this, the book is absurdly well researched. The 780 pages listed are the 780 pages that I read, they are followed by more than 100 more of references and notes, none of which I read. I'm sure that if you are interested in the history of Theodore Roosevelt more than the personality of Theodore Roosevelt than all of that might be interested, but really, I just wanted to know more about someone that managed to get so much done and do it with such energy, drive and good humor, and if that's what you want to know about, the book does just fine without bothering to read the notes on every little factiod. But if you live for that sort of thing, they're there.

In short: Theodore Roosevelt is really interesting, and if you're going to read about him, it would seem that this is the way to go (the book did win the Pulitzer). I don't care if it's long and involved or if it took even me a while to read it. (We can be sure that T.R. would have taken only one day. He once said, "Reading with me is a disease" and was known to read two or three books in their entirety in a single evening, so no more calling me a super speedy reader, I have NOTHING on this guy. ) This book is good enough to make 800 pages of history go quickly and leave you wanting more, and to me, that's pretty impressive.

Just wait until I get my hands on Theodore Rex.