This Library of America volume collects 367 letters written by
Theodore Roosevelt between 1881 and 1919, as well as four of his
most famous speeches, creating a vivid portrait of the public
career and the private thoughts of an unparalleled man. Addressed
to his family, as well as a wide range of correspondents that
includes Jacob Riis, Florence Kelley, Rudyard Kipling, Georges
Clemenceau, Henry Cabot Lodge, John Hay, Owen Wister, Upton
Sinclair, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Alfred Thayer Mahan, Oliver
Wendell Holmes, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Roosevelt's letters
demonstrate the astonishing range of his interests and deeds and
reveal the personal dimensions of one of our greatest statesmen.
Roosevelt describes climbing the Matterhorn, hunting grizzly bears
and cougars, reading Anna Karenina while pursuing thieves through
the Dakota wilderness, playing with his children, mediating the
1902 anthracite coal strike and the Russo-Japanese War, visiting
Panama during the digging of the canal, and being shot while
running for president in 1912. The letters records his expert
knowledge of birds and wildlife, his fascination with history and
historical writing, his changing views on race and the conflict
between business and labor, his concerns about declining birth
rates and the corrupting influence of luxury, his contempt for
impractical reformers and pacifists, and his disappointment and
rage at the failings of William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson.
And, most poignantly, they reveal the pride and worry Roosevelt
felt when his sons went off to battle in World War I, and the
profound grief he experienced when his youngest child was killed.
Also included are four speeches: "The Strenuous Life," a defense of
American rule in the Philippines (1899); "National Duties," which
popularized the phrase "speak softly, and carry a big stick"
(1901); "Citizenship in a Republic," with its famous praise of "the
man in the arena" (1910); and "The New Nationalism," which signaled
Roosevelt's break with Taft's conservatism (1910). LIBRARY OF
AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded
in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing,
and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most
significant writing. The Library of America series includes more
than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000
pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon
markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last
for centuries.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!