100 books like Mornings on Horseback

Theodore Roosevelt's equally courageous descent of an unknown tributary of the Amazon. What drew me to the book was the fact that the former President, no longer a young man, went through an incredibly hostile environment. Living in Louisiana, I have explored and indeed become lost in several large swamps, but none like this one. And none with no possibility of rescue. At points like this in a book, I am thinking, what would I do in the tight fix they were facing? Guessing ahead.

And then it was the boats. Unable to ram larger vessels through the jungle, they settled for dugout canoes that were inherently unstable, yet more so when carrying their gear. Yet they had to run very fast water at times, over unseen obstacles, and managed to survive the turnovers. The jungle itself became the enemy. It provided little food to eat, vegetables or animals, and… show more.

The author held me spellbound as she skilfully unpacked the remarkable story of Louis Zamperini, who survived a plane crash at sea only to be taken prisoner by the Japanese.

Zamperini’s life leapt from the page and swept me along a chilling pathway that bore witness to his physical and inner strength. Hillenbrand held me riveted to the last page of this remarkable true story.

Many books have been written about TR’s time in the Rough Riders, including his 1899 version (I have an original), but Risen’s is perhaps the best. He provides context by delving into the Spanish occupation of Cuba and why it motivated so many young Americans to take up arms to free its people.

Foremost among them was 39-year-old Theodore Roosevelt, a family man with a safe government job willing to risk it all in combat. They had only three weeks of training before shipping out, and their logistical support was nightmarish. They didn’t even have enough food while on the march to San Juan Heights, and mosquitoes felled as many men as Spanish bullets, yet TR and the Rough Riders charged into history. I felt as if I was charging right along with them.

I loved learning that Theodore Roosevelt was the most beloved man in America when he was president. Is there any politician in recent memory we would call beloved?

I liked how he, as a young man, after losing his wife and his mother to illness on the same day, persevered. I liked that he, an aristocrat, went out West to be a man, where he stood his ground and punched a man in a bar, pursued and brought two outlaws to justice, and that as a politician, he kept speaking to a crowd after being shot by a gunman.

I didn't like that he all but started the Spanish-American war, but I liked that he rode with his back straight through gunfire in Cuba. Then I learned that he was ashamed of his father, who bought his way out of the Civil War. That was why, I thought, he had… show more.

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.

When historian Douglas Brinkley said he intended to write a trilogy of thick environmental books, comedian Jon Stewart quipped, "How many trees will you kill to do it?" But Brinkley's gift is no joke. He did our world a remarkable service by writing this encyclopedia of American conservation.

Despite profiling great presidents, a lesson I learned repeatedly from Brinkley is how much conservation history has been driven by everyday Americans caring about a part of the country and acting. 

Because it’s the amazing story of how a supremely gifted and charismatic young Black man overcame his impoverished background and the racism endemic in the United States to break the color barrier in the national sport—baseball, and became an iconic figure in the struggle for civil rights. Rampersad’s unprecedented access to Robinson’s papers allowed him to paint a detailed, intimate, and moving portrait of a courageous and defiant man.

This was a page-turner and a great introduction to Russian history. Massie described her so vividly that years later, I can still visualize Catherine. The most fascinating aspect of the book for me was how a German child named Sophie reinvents herself to become Catherine the Great, the longest-serving Russian empress. 

Robert Caro’s book is nothing less than a masterpiece.

I love it for the unique perspective Caro has for his subject, Johnson, which is rare among biographers. Most biographers love their subjects and want their readers to admire their subjects as well. They gloss over their faults or explain them away so the reader is left with the positive impression the biographer has. Not so with Caro. 

Caro admires Lyndon Johnson as a politician but also loathes him; he respects Lyndon’s radical ability to read and manipulate other individuals and Lyndon’s pure, unadulterated pursuit of power and higher office, but he despised Lyndon for his ability to use people, a “morality often bordering on amorality.” In this way, Caro’s biography helps the reader “be as wise as serpents, yet as innocent of doves,” to quote Matthew 10:16. He explains how Johnson committed deeds that were unjust and unethical and condemns… show more.

The middle book of Morris’ definitive biography of Roosevelt (following The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and preceding Colonel Roosevelt) brought me into the White House along with 42-year-old TR as he was thrust into the presidency after William McKinley’s assassination in 1901.

Thus begins an administration like nothing the country had ever seen or likely will ever see again. Morris takes what could be simply a dry accounting of Roosevelt’s accomplishments—and failures—in office and makes them into a story that’s almost like a novel. If you’ve ever wondered why Roosevelt is on Mount Rushmore, this book will tell you why.

Over a century later, his accomplishments still greatly impact American life, and not just in the area of conservation, for which he is perhaps most remembered. Way ahead of his time on things like civil rights and women’s suffrage, TR was not afraid to take on the entrenched political… show more.