Colonel Roosevelt [Rauer Buchschnitt] [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

If you've read the first two volumes in Edmund Morris' landmark biography of Theodore Roosevelt (The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex) you've been waiting for this one. The scholarship is every bit as detailed, the narrative every bit as well-drawn, but I nevertheless found myself enjoying this volume slightly less than the two preceding ones, if only because it describes sadder events, and Morris did such a masterful job of taking us through Roosevelt's Rise and Rule that his necessary decline seems even more poignant in comparison.

This book does contain detailed, authoritative accounts of some of the most dramatic events in Theodore Roosevelt's life -- the assassination attempt he followed with the announcement "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose[,]" and a ninety-minute speech, given with blood spreading slowly across his waistcoat; his hunting safari in Africa; his near-death experiences mapping the then-unexplored River of Doubt in Brazil (now named the "Rio Roosevelt" in his honor). If, like me, you followed reading Morris' prior volumes with Roosevelt's own autobiographical works -- the Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt,Through the Brazilian Wilderness, and/or African Game Trails -- reading this will give you the details Roosevelt himself chose to leave out, and show you the viewpoints of Rooselvelt's friends, enemies, and family as well.

So, all in all, if you've read the first two volumes, and especially if you've gone beyond them, this one's a necessary read. The problem with it is that, of necessity, this volume is tragedy, not comedy; this last section of Roosevelt's life was a comet in decline, overextended, his powers past their peak or locked into futile struggles that his native pride and will found impossible to decline. The same genius is still there -- both in Roosevelt himself and in Morris' biography -- but it's hard to read of Teddy's doomed-from-inception 1912 presidential campaign, of his near-quixotic determination to map the Brazilian wilderness as an aging man in his fifties, or of his relentless push for a war that we know will kill his youngest son, without feeling an inevitable sadness that caused me to put this book down on more than one occasion.

The comet is still afire here, both in Morris's writing and in Theodore's life; but we know that at the end of this volume, it will go out, and Morris has done such a good job of creating sympathy, affection, and admiration for his subject that there's an inevitable melancholy suffusing this concluding volume.

The publication in 1979 of Edmund Morris's The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt heralded the start of a monumental multi-volume study of our nation's 26th president. Though sidetracked for a number of years by his assignment as Ronald Reagan's official biographer, Morris finally released his second volume, Theodore Rex, in 2001, which chronicled Roosevelt's life during his years in the White House. This book, which recount's Roosevelt's post-presidential years, provides a long-awaited completion to Morris's project. It bears all of the strengths and weaknesses of Morris's approach to his project, now on display in a chronicle of an eventful decade in an already active life.

Morris begins with his subject (whose insistence on being referred to post-presidency as "Colonel Roosevelt" provides the inspiration for the book's title) on safari in Africa, the first leg of a year-long voyage abroad. Designed to give his handpicked successor, William Howard Taft, an opportunity to flourish outside of his long shadow, Roosevelt's trip continued with a triumphal tour of Europe, one that the author recounts in meticulous detail. Returning to universal acclaim, he also confronted a divisive political scene, with the dominant Republican Party torn by increasingly acrimonious infighting between its progressive and conservative wings. After an initial silence, Roosevelt joined the fray, campaigning for a number of progressive Republicans in the 1910 midterm elections. Morris sees the defeat of these candidates as the first blow to his public standing, weakening him at a time when he faced growing calls from Progressives to challenge Taft for the 1912 Republican presidential nomination.

Increasingly disillusioned with his former colleague, Roosevelt entered the race in February 1912. Morris's description of his primary battle against Taft is one of the high points of this book, capturing all of the drama of a former president taking on his party's leadership. Though Roosevelt was the clear choice of the voters, the limited use of presidential primaries at the time and Taft's control of party patronage ensured Roosevelt's defeat at the national convention that June. Undaunted, Roosevelt bolted from the GOP and campaigned for the White House under the banner of the newly-founded Progressive Party. Morris eschews any analysis of the campaign in favor of a narrative that describes his travels across America, which ended with a dramatic assassination attempt by "a weedy little man" who claimed to have been urged to do so by the ghost of William McKinley. Despite the surge of sympathy the attempt generated, Roosevelt fell short in his effort, losing in November.

Financially weakened, Roosevelt turned to his pen and took to the road once more. After a trip to Arizona with his sons Archie and Quentin, Roosevelt embarked on what he viewed as his last great adventure - an expedition into the jungles of the Amazon. His journey proved difficult and physically demanding, with personality conflicts, a leg injury, and a recurrence of malaria taking its toll on the former president. Roosevelt's return coincided with the outbreak of war in Europe, leaving him chafing with inactivity as Woodrow Wilson first kept America out of war, then left the former president on the sidelines as he led the nation into it. By its end, Roosevelt nursed both the pain of losing his youngest son and an increasing range of physical ailments, a cumulative effect of decades of strenuous activity that left him dead at the age of 60 in 1919.

Morris recounts Roosevelt's life in vivid, occasionally even florid prose. He is a master of presenting the rich drama of Roosevelt's adventures, an easy enough task given the material he had to work with but well done nevertheless. Yet like his earlier volumes, this descriptive account comes with little in the way of context or analysis. There is little here to explain Roosevelt's broader impact on progressivism, his contributions of his journeys to natural history, or the importance of his participation in the preparedness movement. While this diminishes the utility of Morris's work as a study of Roosevelt's contribution to American history, it does not detract from the overall enjoyability of Morris's entertaining, masterful account. Combined with his earlier volumes, it is likely to serve as the standard by which Roosevelt biographies are judged for decades to come

This book covers the last decade of Theodore Roosevelt's life, completing the trilogy begun with The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (birth to winning the Presidency) and Theodore Rex (White House years). Roosevelt wrote so many books, articles and speeches, and was written about so often by contemporaries, that Morris is almost an editor rather than a researcher or analyst--about 20% of the pages are devoted to notes. Yet the books never turn into recitations of facts, all three are exciting and readable, with the feel of novels rather than historical accounts. They are peppered with vivid descriptions and aphoristic phrasing.

Compared to the first two books in the series, Morris seems to have gained in confidence, or perhaps the sources from this period allow more definitive conclusions. There are fewer qualifications and stronger color in the writing. The other major difference is Roosevelt's position during this time allowed him to participate in world affairs and anything else that interested him, without any restrictions of public office. The first book is the most adventurous, but Roosevelt was not a major global or even national player. The second book is a little less fun to read due to the necessity of describing details of politics and administration. Only in Colonel Roosevelt does his mature personality shine through without cloud.

There isn't much more to say. This is among the greatest popular biographies ever written, about one of history's most exciting characters. I definitely recommend reading the three books in order, but if you will only read one, I think this is the best choice.