The Boys of '98: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders [Hardcover]

Dale L. Walker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1998

Spur Awardwinning author Dale Walker tells the colourful story of Americas most memorable fighting force, the volunteer cavalry known as the Rough Riders. From its members, and their slapdash training in Texas and Florida, to its battles at Las Gusimas and San Juan Hill under the command of Theodore Roosevelt, who kept riding, some say, into the White House.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Officially known as the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, the Rough Riders are synonymous with the Spanish-American War. Their flamboyant colonel, Theodore Roosevelt, was larger than life and generated substantial publicity for his men. Walker (Legends and Lies: Great Mysteries of the American West) has written a lucid account of the history of this volunteer cavalry regiment. He sets the stage by chronicling the troubled history of Cuba and its Spanish rulers, and of U.S. involvement in the island's affairs. After the destruction of the U.S. battleship Maine in February 1898, war was inevitable, given America's outrage over the affair. Roosevelt left his post in the Navy Department and, with Leonard Wood, put together a unique assemblage of men to form the only volunteer cavalry to see action in the subsequent brief war. The regiment's soldiers came from all walks of life?cowboys, ranchers, men from Harvard and Yale, athletes, soldiers of fortune, policemen and many more. The regiment fought in the skirmish at Las Guasimas and took a much-publicized role in the successful assault on San Juan Heights. Battle casualties totaled over a hundred men. Using a combination of memoirs and secondary studies, Walker has produced a human-oriented picture of the regiment, its camp life, battles and struggle with disease in Cuba's tropical climate. Thumbnail biographical sketches provide useful information about the key players in the drama (which incorporates information that Walker garnered nearly 30 years ago while interviewing the then last three surviving Rough Riders). For those interested in the stirring events of a hundred years ago, his study is sure to please.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

On this centennial of the Spanish-American War, a number of publications are scheduled. This volume concentrates on the tumultuous creation and short, thrilling campaign of the volunteer regiment raised by then Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt. Walker sets the scene with some background but zeroes in on the regiment of "woolly" adventurers?cowboys, frontier lawmen, New York club loungers, Harvard graduates, journalists, and wanderers whose virtue, according to Roosevelt, was their ferocity, energy, courage, and manliness. The regiment was raised in April, trained in June, fought in July, and disbanded in September, having sustained 37 percent casualties. Roosevelt declined command in favor of his friend Capt. Leonard Wood, but the personality of the future president was so strong that in the popular eye it was his glory alone. Walker (Rough Rider: Buckey O'Neill of Arizona, Univ. of Nebraska, 1997) has assembled a thoroughly researched popular history that can be enjoyed by lay readers. Recommended for subject collections. (Maps and pictures not seen.)?Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Forge; 1st edition (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312864795
• ISBN-13: 978-0312864798
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,141,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Teddy's Terrors", December 18, 2000

By 

Frank J. Konopka (Shamokin, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Boys of '98: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders (Hardcover)

This is a good basic book about the Rough Riders and the Spanish-American war. The anecdotes are interesting, and it doesn't get bogged down in a lot of detail, which should assist the casual reader. That having been said, there are a number of factual errors contained within it, and a more careful editing would have eliminated the redundancies I came across, including using the same quote more than once. If you want a quick overview of the subject, however, and don't care to delve too deeply into it, this is the book for you.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, not great., September 6, 2000

By 

Mitch Reed (Washington DC, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Boys of '98: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders (Hardcover)

This book is still second best to the Rooosevelt work. It covers much of the same period, yet is not as frank and revealing as the TR book. It was a very quick and enjoyable read, so for the casual reader, this would be a perfect book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your usual stuffy historical non-fiction., August 21, 1998

By 

Bob Johnson([e-mail]) (Seabeck, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Boys of '98: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders (Hardcover)

Dale Walker has managed to make the history of a military campaign readable, and enjoyable. This book moves along well, and is packed with information, as well as fleshing out the characters involved. It is an even-handed treatment of the Cuban campaign. I did find one error (which must be a typo, as Walker is too good an historian to make this gross an error) when it mentions that the Spanish Mauser fires a .45 caliber slug, when in fact it was 7mm caliber. Walker uses a lot of sources for this book, including the press accounts of the military correspondents, and interviews with the surviving Rough Riders. In all, it fleshes out the campaign, and is meatier and more accessible than any other treatment of the Rough Riders. The inclusion of little-known facts, such as Edgar Rice Burroughs' attempt to join the regiment, are gems. A splendid effort!