|
Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt (平装)
by David McCullough
| Category:
Biography, American history, American presidents, Leadership |
| Market price: ¥ 178.00
MSL price:
¥ 158.00
[ Shop incentives ]
|
| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
An insightful review of Teddy Roosevelt's character development, and his eventual rise to power as one of America's greatest presidents. |
| If you want us to help you with the right titles you're looking for, or to make reading recommendations based on your needs, please contact our consultants. |
|
| |
AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 9 items |
|
|
John Leonard (The New York Times), USA
<2007-01-31 00:00>
We have no better social historian.
|
|
|
Detroit News (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-31 00:00>
This is a marvelous chronicle of manners and morals, love and duty, and as captivating as anything you will find between book covers in a long while.
|
|
|
Denver Post (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-31 00:00>
A fine account of Roosevelt's rise to manhood, well written and, like its subject, full of irrepressible vitality.
|
|
|
John Dorman (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-31 00:00>
In this gift to all lovers of history, the early life of Theodore Roosevelt is illuminated and explained. Historian David McCullough brilliantly recognized that any great life is shaped by its earliest years. He undertook the task of researching and formulating those important years in TR's life into powerful and beautiful language, and he succeeded mightily.
Roosevelt was born into an extremely wealthy family, but one that was also firmly grounded in the realities of life. This was due to the influence of his father, Theodore (or Greatheart, as he was known to the children). Although immensely rich, Greatheart's real concern was with the impoverished and forgotten of society, and his dedication to helping those in need impacted young TR early on. This did not mean that Greatheart and his family did not live lavishly, however. Every need or wish was provided for, and no discomfort was ever really felt. The true discomforts of the Roosevelt family stemmed from health problems, which no amount of money seemed able to cure. Young Teddy suffered from severe asthma, and McCullough painfully recreates some of the boy's attacks, and documents the frequency and regularity with which they occurred. McCullough also goes into detail regarding the illness suffered by Teddy's brother Elliott, which seemed to be epillepsy, but went undiagnosed. Teddy's oldest sister Bamie also deals with spinal problems from a young age, having to wear a brace for several years and never fully recovering. Thus, the Mighty Roosevelt family, as some would see them, is actually plagued with illness and discomfort. These illnesses would also bring out the best in their father, whose caring spirit and dedication to his children is evident in each case.
Teddy's siblings are also discussed at length, and with good reason. Each has a unique story of their own, and each affected Teddy deeply and in different ways. Bamie is seen as possibly the most intelligent of all the children, and her lifelong dedication to Teddy is apparent and important. She also became the mother figure and sole caretaker of her niece, Eleanor Roosevelt (whom was given away at her wedding to Franklin by her uncle Teddy)!
There are tragic figures as well in the story, these being Teddy's brother Elliott and his wife Alice. The family money and prestige do nothing to help Elliott's outlook on life, and he loses touch with the ideals and teachings of his childhood, eventually abandoning his family in shameful fashion (especially for a Roosevelt). This is a great disapointment for Teddy, and causes him much pain.
His wife Alice is also discussed at length, and McCullough has an undeniable ability to create characters, cause them to come alive in vivid detail, and build them up before revealing the reality of what occurs in their lives. This ability is fully put to use in the case of Alice Roosevelt, but I will leave the rest to the reader.
Ultimately, this book is a triumph in it's capturing of the spirit of a young Teddy Roosevelt, through his wide variety of experiences as a young man. Some have complained that this book ends abruptly, but this is in no way meant to be a definitive bio on TR. It chronicles his early life, and the experiences that shaped him as a man and that stayed with him as President. It's a fascinating concept and it is successfully executed by a master historian.
|
|
|
Patricia Ross (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-31 00:00>
The distinctive quality of David McCullough's works is that he refuses to insult his reader with a less than honest view of his subject while making allowances for the fact that in writing history, he was not present to be able to interpret what the circumstances were, or what they might have been. He is an intellectual's author in expressing, as well as he can, the intricacies of well defined patterns of communication that existed at the time that likely made an impact on his subject to define his perspective and his action. This is a solid effort to give both character and accuracy to the personality as he might have been, and probably was, without attributing his own knowledge of today's events onto his subject, a tendency of increasing frequency. The reason for this is his dedicated and meticulous research into his subject, a model of historical recording, without unduly influencing the reader. The value of reflecting the accuracy of historical events is that it offers the reader his own perspective to interpret historical events rather than a canned version by the author. Of course, McCullough may draw upon unique events to help identify information previously glossed over in his attempts to portray that accuracy. This is an acceptable license in biographical accounts though not always followed with such careful editing. The exciting part of McCullough's writing is that he has the humility to identify his subjects as extraordinary, and is a willing participant in helping the reader to see that as well, a real credit to his choice of subject. His fascination is transmitted to the reader in a thoughtful measure of the man, or the event, he has researched, the mark of a very distinguished writer who adores his work, and is successful for that reason. |
|
|
Jack Purcell (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-31 00:00>
One historical concept will almost certainly come to be after time allows historians a polite distance from the 20th Century: the first 70 years belong to the Roosevelts. Hidden behind all the white noise of two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Communism, assassinations, genocides, computers, automobiles, television, telephones and airplanes is a political reality. US self-definition of the 20th Century was personified by Theodore Roosevelt and almost no other public figure. His popularity, honesty, stoicism and ideals, all the best of the way Americans wished to view themselves, allowed the ghost of his kinsman, Franklin Delano to point US political direction for the remainder of the Century.
Theodore was the son of a wealthy New York elite who paid a substitute to serve in his place on the battlefields of the Civil War and the slave owning Southern Belle who was probably the model for Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. While his mother and grandmother were sending packages to the South via blockade-runners and most of his kinsmen South of the Mason-Dixon Line were dying in battle, the tyke Teddy expressed the wish that all "rebel soldiers would be ground to powder." He idolized his father throughout his life, but barely mentioned his mother in his autobiography.
Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, hero of San Juan Hill, Trust-Buster, cowboy, rancher, and founder of the earliest National Parks, National Wilderness Areas, and National Forests, Roosevelt was largely responsible for the 20th Century love affair with the West. Hoot Gibson, Tom Mix, Gene Autry, John Wayne and Roy Rogers would have all lived different lives if Teddy Roosevelt had followed the footprints of his father (and there'd be no "Teddy Bear"). So would we all live in an entirely different America.
David McCullough gives us a great account of this man of contrasts and his family. I recommend it as the best work ever compiled on a man who might one day be hailed as the "best" president America ever had. McCullough gives us a human Roosevelt who carried all the best attributes of the 19th Century into the present.
|
|
|
A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-31 00:00>
For anyone who is a fan of Teddy Roosevelt, this is absolutely required reading. I enjoy reading non-fiction but do consider it my more serious (ie less fun) reading. This is one, that I literally couldnt put down. I read it in a day and a half. While other reviewers have indicated that they thought McCullough spent too much time on TR's parents or the lifestyle he was born in to- I don't see how one could have written a book without those details. McCullough's book focuses on how TR grew up to be one of our nation's most famous presidents. How can you discuss such a subject without taking a close look at his family, his society and his childhood asthma. I really found the discussion of the causes of childhood asthma interesting as well. I think McCullough paints a wonderful picture of TR as a boy and young man- he really captures the spirit of one of our most engaging presidents. I only wish McCullough wrote another book that picked up where this one left off.
|
|
|
Anne (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-31 00:00>
Mornings on Horseback, by David G. McCullough, describes the life of Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th and youngest ever President.
In this book, Mr. McCullough vividly describes young Teddy's growing up years and his close-knit family. An avid reader, Theodore especially liked to read books on history and the sciences. Biology was his lifetime hobby; from his youngest years to his White House days he studied plants and animals, kept vast collections, and simply enjoyed the outdoors. One wonders why he didn't become a biologist, his knowledge and delight of botany and zoology so great.
Shortly before graduating fomr Harvard University in 1880, he married Alice Lee. During his four years with her, he dabbled in Republican politics until tragedy struck: Alice died two days after the birth of their daughter; on the same day, Theodore's mother died of typhoid fever.
Utterly devastated, he left politics for the open plains of the Dakota Territory. He bought two ranches in what is now North Dakota; somehow, the hard life eased his sorrow.
At the request of the Republican Party, he returned to New York City in 1886 to run for mayor: he was defeated. However, soon after, he married a childhood friend, Edith Carow. During their 30+ years of marriage, they had five children.
He returned to politics and within several years went from Civil Service Commissioner to Assistant Secretary of the Navy. In 1900, he became William McKinley's running mate and was thrust into the Presidency after the assassination of the newly-inaugurated President. He went on to serve two terms as President.
Mr. McCullough does not go into extensive detail to describe T.R.'s political life. His book seems to be mainly focused on him and his family; he describes Theodore's family and relatives, focuses somewhat on his father's political career, but gives a cursory description of his own. However, it really delves into T.R.'s person life; I especially enjoyed the unedited writings by him, for there are many diary entries, letters and other quotations included in this book. This is a great biography on Theodore Roosevelt.
|
|
|
A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-31 00:00>
David McCullough is a master at revealing history as it truly took place, and people as they truly were. His account of Teddy Roosevelt's remarkably innocent childhood debunks the myths that have long clouded Roosevelt biographies. While TR would grow to be a fearless Rough Rider and a President who took on corporate monopolies, he began his life as a pathetically weak, asthmatic boy clammering for his parents' attention. It was through the love, rather demanding at times, of Roosevelt's wonderfully demonstrative father that Teddy grew into his tough adult self. Mornings on Horseback challenges the notion that yesterday was more idyllic than today. Though Roosevelt had a close family, they did not remain unscathed by the Civil War, nor by illnesses that have since fled the earth. Throughout it all, it was their sense of family, as well as their great self-motivation to improve the lot of the world, that pushed them beyond misfortune. McCullough is a patient historian. He does not abide by myths, or falsehoods. His prying beneath the historical record is done with sound tools of investigation. Throughout it all, his voice is so entrancing, and his capture of detail so intricate, that we come to feel that we truly understand his subjects. When they are tossed about by fate, we regard their misfortunes with empathy. McCullough knows how to make history as readable as fiction.
|
|
|
|
1 Total 1 pages 9 items |
|
|
|
|
|
|
