The best books on the life and times of Theodore Roosevelt

Clay Risen Author Of The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century
By Clay Risen

Who am I?

Clay Risen has been a reporter and senior editor at The New York Times for 11 years. He is the author of three widely respected books on American history, most recently The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century, which was a Times Notable Book for 2019 and a finalist for the Gilder-Lehrman Prize for Military History.

I wrote...

The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century

By Clay Risen

Book cover of The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and the Dawn of the American Century

What is my book about?

Theodore Roosevelt commanded the Rough Riders, a volunteer regiment, during the Spanish-American War, an adventure that catapulted him to national fame and paved his way to the White House. It also made the Rough Riders themselves famous, and their collective experience, and the war itself, forever changed the course of American history as the country moved from the isolationism of the 19th century to the global dominance of the 20th.

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The Books I Picked & Why

Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt

By David McCullough

Book cover of Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt

Why this book?

So much of the story of Theodore Roosevelt – the story told about him, and the story he told the world – is rooted in his experience as a sickly child of an all-powerful yet kind aristocratic father. McCullough dives into all of this, piecing myth apart from reality while using Roosevelt’s early years in upper-crust New York to paint a picture of America as it moved from the Civil War era to the Gilded Age.

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The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

By Edmund Morris

Book cover of The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

Why this book?

A landmark of political biography, Morris’s trilogy is epic in scope and length. Among its many strengths is Morris’s ability to match wits with Roosevelt, clearly and compellingly explaining his forays into everything from ranching to antitrust policy to international diplomacy. There is a touch of hagiography here, though not wholly unwarranted.

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Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life

By Kathleen Dalton

Book cover of Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life

Why this book?

This is easily the best single-volume account of Roosevelt’s life. Dalton writes with an understated verve and an attention to detail that will pull along even biography-averse readers. While Morris’s trilogy is still the definitive account, Dalton’s is more persuasive, as she is more willing to cast a skeptical eye on Roosevelt’s excesses and shortcomings.

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The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

By Candice Millard

Book cover of The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

Why this book?

Millard’s book is a thrilling account of Roosevelt last big adventure, an attempt to chart Brazil’s Rio da Dúvida, or “River of Doubt,” later renamed Roosevelt River. Millard is a gifted narrator, who uses the story of a former president risking his life in the jungle to explore the motivations that drove this very complicated man through his entire life.

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The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America

By Douglas Brinkley

Book cover of The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America

Why this book?

Here, Brinkley manages to write both a conventional biography of Roosevelt and a study of his impact on America’s natural heritage. In doing so he casts light on stories and evidence that most other biographers have overlooked. And it doesn’t help that Brinkley’s angle shows Roosevelt at his most exciting, climbing the Alps, trekking through the West, and exploring the Amazon.

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