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Theodore Roosevelt: A Life

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Miller captures the frentic energy and optimism of the president who could be called the living embodiment of the American ideal.

Theodore Roosevelt's life story is a great study in the art of living life fully. For young people particularly, Roosevelt's example can be a valuable lesson highlighting the benefits of taking risks, seizing the initiative, being true to one's beliefs and taking charge of molding one's personna. Simply put, TR's life shows why a can-do attitude has the chance to produce success when applied consistently to life's challenges and opportunities.

TR's incredible rise and success in public life (as well as family, literary and outdoor life) is due much more to his constatly being in a state of forward motion rather than the execution of any long term plans. This very practical man combined this trait with several extraordinary gifts and a charasmatic personality to will himself on the American people over a thirty year period. It is a remarkable story

All of these facts need an able story teller. Theodore Roosevelt has found one in Nathan Miller. Richly researched, the author weaves facts with well reasoned commentary to produce an easily read tome. This is a fun book to read. It is fast paced and thoroughly interesting. In Miller's hands, TR's lively personality leaps from the page and enthuses the reader.

This book is by far one of the best I've ever read! Although I am only 17 I found it to be very well written and intriguing, not in the least bit boring! I was a bit overwhelmed at first when I found out that the book was 567 pages long but as I began to read the book I found the pages going by more and more quickly. A true biography, it goes from his childhood to his death and details his life in politics, his friends, his foes, and the decisions he made as well as why he made them; also includes many in depth looks at the his private life and the events that shaped him. I hadn't read much of anything ,prior to having read this book, about Teddy Roosevelt and now find myself to be as informed as the most fervent admirer of the former president. Don't pass up the opportunity to read this book, I guarantee you'll love it!

A very inspiring and thoughtful book of Theodore Roosevelt, the tradgedies and triumphs. Dealing with asthma as a boy, the care of a devoted father which he would try to measure up to all his life, the deaths of his wife and mother on the same day. This book is about Theodore's life and rise to power as the most powerful and beloved man on the Earth at that time, the building of the Navy, the Panama Canal, the National Parks saving millions of acres of woodlands and marshes and animals. Just the type of leader we need now, truly a must read.

This excellent biography, published in 1992, is interesting and lively. It paints a picture of a dynamic leader and "literary feller" who was also a nice guy. Well, that is, unless you had crossed him in some way. But he had lofty ideals that he usually stuck to, and he loved his big family. Of particular interest are the pictures and section devoted to his first wife, the tall and lovely "Sunshine" Alice, who died tragically on Valentine's Day at age 22. There is the charge up San Juan Hill in Cuba, his cowboy times "out West," his struggles with gout, the Nobel Peace Prize for helping end the Russo-Japanese War...and during all these activities, the amazing man found time to publish 40 books! They don't make 'em like this anymore. Well, maybe they will in the future, but the U.S. political horizon looks gray and dim, does it not? Can you imagine Clinton or Bush publishing 40 books? Or winning the Peace Prize? Great book for those folks interested in Great Men. It's fascinating and highly readable, not your daddy's biographical Oldsmobile.

Having read a biography of Theodore Roosevelt 20 years ago it's amazing the light years biographies have come. Biographies until recent times had been little more than recitations of their life and times, but now are delving much more deeply into original source documents and completing a much fuller and more comprehensive picture of that subject. Biographers are also taking a much more multi-disciplinary approach pulling in sociology, psychology, history, political science and economics that make biographies a much richer read. You feel like you really understand them in the context of their times.

Theodore Roosevelt by Nathan Miller is just such a read. Theodore Roosevelt is already a lively and entertaining figure and his life was like a movie anyways. Sickly child to Wildman of the West, Society Dandy to wily politician, scorned outsider to President. Miller captures it all in style that fairly crackles with life. His writing on the period of TR's entry to politics through to the Spanish-American War was so gripping I could hardly put it down. Miller pulls in a great number of archival and original sources to paint a much more complete comprehensive and engaging portrait of TR. I haven't read Edmund Morris's Theodore Rex yet, but hear it's equally good. The anecdotes Miller throws in showcases what a manic bundle of energy TR was, yet he lets TR live in his era. Too often revisionist historians try and impose today's standards on past figures. Miller eschews that and TR is really seen for the man he is.

Theodore Roosevelt is a compelling read for those interested in learning more on him and the Progressive Era. I'd read this book as a companion piece to two courses I was taking last semester, Gilded Age and Progressive Era (HIST 4461) and US Diplomatic History 1890 to Present (HIST 3321) and it tied to both exceedingly well, providing great insight into the context of the times. As far as insight into TR himself I dare say Miller is far more objective than TR was in his autobiography and truly captures TR in most every respect.

Author Nathan Miller faces some stiff competition with his Theodore Roosevelt biography. Edmund Morris won the Pulitzer prize with "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" and one of mega popular historian David McCullough's best loved books is "Mornings on Horseback." Additionally, Miller faces the fundamental problem that TR was really too complex a figure to be given his just due in a single volume. The man himself was larger than life, and his biographies ought to be as well.

Nevertheless, Miller gives it his best shot. His prose is very readable and he briskly covers each event in Roosevelt's busy life with aminimum of opinionating. Those looking for a thorough examination of TR's presidency will be better off with Morris's recent "Theodore Rex," as the two terms combined account for only about 140 of the 560 pages of narrative. Roosevelt's post-presidential years get even less coverage, a mere 70 pages, despite the fact that he continued to be a major player on the American political scene for another decade. These factors illustrate just how difficult was Miller's one volume task.

Overall, "Theodore Roosevelt: A Life" is a good bare bones introduction to one of America's most fascinating historical figures.

As a military officer I always felt like TR's actions with the Rough Riders were more to gain publicity than as a professional soldier. I visited the Rough Rider Museum in Las Vegas, NM in 1995 and that only underscored my belief. (The only error I found in the book was a reference to the first of many reunions of the Rough Riders being held at Las Vegas, NV rather than NM) Furthermore, I always thought his actions regarding the great outdoors was a façade of the poor little rich kid that ventured into the wilderness with numerous man-servants at the ready. After reading this book I realize how wrong I was on all accounts. Nathan Miller takes us from before TR's birth all the way through his life and does it in a very readable and accurate manner. Thankfully, Teede, as he was called as a child, kept a detailed diary from the earliest age and wrote numerous letters throughout his life. These serve to provide a vivid portrayal of a sickly youngster that collected and stuffed hundreds of birds and small animals for his father's Roosevelt Natural Museum. With his asthmatic condition, coke-bottle glasses (he didn't know he could hardly see until 13) and high-pitched voice he constantly was working to fit-in. Of course, having inherited sufficient capital to do as he pleased was very helpful. When I started reading this book I thought I'd read a few pages and before I knew it was well into the book. Miller does a nice job of tying history together in a way that makes the characters come alive. Time and again Miller makes a series of observations about TR and then substantiates it with quotes from TR's letters or books. A very delightful book that's guaranteed to provide you with new in-sights into a leader that would defend our Nation during any time or trouble.

Nathan Miller has a suberb writing style, and that's the most important thing in an expansive history such as this. He has a knack for knowing what type of information will drag the story down, and where he should elaborate, and he uses this skill to create a story that is interesting at every stage. His research is obviously extensive, but his book doesn't get bogged down in minutae -- he's not showing off all the things he knows about his subject -- but instead he keeps the reader in mind, and provides us with relevant anecdotes and details that add to the overall story. The ending is particularly impressive: Just when one fears the extended synopsis, Miller ends the book succinctly, and then adds a brief, lovely epilogue -- a little story, in fact -- that says volumes about his subject. An excellent approach to a fascinating figure.

This Biography of Theodore Roosevelt is a very good and well written accounting of the personal side of his life. The book examines his youth, first marriage, and his time in the west in very good detail. The book fails miserably in it's exploration of the time TR spent in the White House. It falls far short of detailing the day to day political manuvering and his interaction with the other national political players. If you are primarily interested in his personal life, this is the book for you. If you are more interested in the compromise and delicate balanceing act of his national political career you should seek out other works. The biography by Henry F Pringle or Willaim H Harbaugh offer a far superior political biography and spend a little less time on the personal life. Because of this failing Miller's bio is not the advertised COMPLETE life. Other bio's are more Difinitive.

He assumed the Presidency at the untimely death of President McKinley and for 7 1/2 years, Theodore Roosevelt made history. He was the first American to win the Nobel Peace Prize (Russo-Japanese War) and he put The Panama Canal project back on the rails when it stalled. He entered into a treaty with Japan that forbade Japanese involvement with the Philippines, Hawaii and US interests in China but that enabled Japan to annex Korea later. He negotiated with France, Spain and Germany regarding Morocco that resulted in France and Spain dividing up Morocco and that convinced Germany to build up its navy for war at another time. He also negotiated to reposition the dividing line between Alaska and Canada. On the home front, his administration created laws regulating food and drugs, supervision of insurance companies, investigation of child labor, regulation of the packing houses, establishing standards for meat processing and opened up competition by breaking up the railway, steamship and coal mine joint ownership. TR had the States set up conservation programs for parklands but also for power sites (Niagara Falls) and natural resources such as oil and coal. Roosevelt was the first President to bring the people of the press into the White House to field their questions and also to acknowledge and welcome visitors of artistic/creative talents to the White House. There is so much more. This is not a full biography but centers predominantly on his activities as President. The writer's style is never pedantic or sentimental. Recommended.