The boys' life of Theodore Roosevelt

by Hermann Hagedorn

1918. Illustrated with photographs, cartoons, and reproductions of Theodore Roosevelt's own diaries. A Boy Arrives and Discovers the World; He Grows; He Goes on His Travels and Learns a Thing or Two; He Seeks Out Wise Fold of Various Sorts, with Varying Results; He Finds His Place in the Universe Without Quite Knowing It; He Goes on His First Real Hunt; He Looks for Adventures and Finds Some Folks from Maine Turn a New House into a New Home; The End of the Idyl; He Brings a Graveyard to Life and Incidentally Comes to Close Grips with a Bear; He Jumps into a Tiger's Den and Emerges, to the Discomfiture of the Tiger; He Walks Through the Fiery Furnace; He Governs a Great State Justly in Spite of the Interests; He Inaugurates a New Era; He Establishes Himself and His Country as a World Power; He Goes Out into the Wilderness; He Walks with Kings; He Returns to His Own People and Fights a Good Fight Against Odds; He Goes Out after New Adventures and Nearly Finds the Greatest of All; and The Great Awakener.

Genres: Biography, History

386 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2005

About the author

Hermann Hagedorn (18 July 1882, New York City - 27 July 1964) was an American author, poet and biographer.

He was born in New York City and educated at Harvard University, where he was awarded the George B. Sohier Prize for literature, the University of Berlin, and Columbia University. From 1909 to 1911, he was an instructor in English at Harvard.

Hagedorn was a friend and biographer of Theodore Roosevelt. He also served as Secretary and Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association from 1919 to 1957. Drawing upon his friendship with Roosevelt, Hagedorn was able to elicite the support of Roosevelt's friends and associates' personal recollections in his biography of TR which was first published in 1918 and then updated in 1922 and which is oriented toward children. The book has a summary questions for young readers at the end of each chapter. Drawing on the same friends and associates of Roosevelt, Hagedorn also published the first serious study of TR's experience as a rancher in the Badlands after the death of his wife and mother in 1884. Hagedorn's access to TR's associates in these two books has been utilized by historian, Edmund Morris in his two highly acclaimed biographical books on Roosevelt published in 1979 and 2001.

Reviews

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm skeptical of the word hagiography. It gets thrown around too loosely—usually with negative connotation—and so loosely that its currency as a descriptor has been devalued to the point that I'm not sure if I've ever read a proper hagiography.

But now I know. I've read one!

For the curious, hagios is Greek for 'holy'. A hagiography is a study of a holy one, a saint. Theodore Roosevelt was nothing less in the eyes of author Hermann Hagedorn.

"The American people, walking in strange paths amid storms and phantasms and perilous, seductive voices, were hungering for a clean, clear trumpetcall. Roosevelt gave it. For four years, regardless of political expediency, regardless of counselors imploring him to sacrifice truth to a sentimental phrase, regardless of all things but facts and the right behind the facts, he thundered through the land like a prophet in Israel; and millions from coast to coast thanked God for Theodore Roosevelt and, in troubled days, said what they had said ten years before: "It's all right. Roosevelt is on guard!" (p. 376)

And I'm positively okay with Hagedorn's view![1] The reason is that he was a close personal friend of the Roosevelt family. He was loyal to TR in life, and he was writing to honor this man in his death. I admire him for that.

Hagedorn wrote several books about TR. This one is his cut at a sweeping full-life biography.

Measuring only 385 short pages with large font, it necessarily moves in leaps and bounds, leaving conspicuous gaps. Some would not be noticed unless you had read other accounts of TR's escapades (e.g. many scenes from his time with the Rough Riders), but others would be obvious to anyone (e.g. he's all of a sudden on a honeymoon with a second wife, how did that unfold?)

One benefit to reading Hagedorn is that he has a few anecdotes to share which seem to come from having an intimacy with the family—young Theodore being scared by an imaginary Bible monster, adult Theodore falling off a cliff while hunting goats, ranchman Theodore fighting off Indians.

While I respect Hagedorn's uplifting of TR, if it's pushed too far, then some of the authenticity is diminished. It's as if you're reading about a polished, cold marble sculpture rather than a real human being.

If I have one criticism of the book, that's it.

Scarcely a word is said about the early tragedy in his life, and Hagedorn portrays TR as handling later tragedies with stoicism—even pride—when, by other accounts, they deeply affected TR in a depressing way from which he never truly recovered.

In all: Fun romp through the adventurous life of TR. If you haven't read much about him, good place to begin. If you have read about him, good place to unearth some new stories.



__________

[1] My biases: 1) I love reading about Theodore Roosevelt and 2) I love reading books in which the author is their subject's advocate. What fun is it to read a biography that relentlessly claws at the protagonist?

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! It described TR as a common man with a passion to help the common people. He excelled in his victories but you really see what kind of man he was in his losses. He could have played the blame game and pointed fingers, there were many that wanted him to fail, but he made the best of it. Our leaders could learn a lot from his example! This is a book that I will definitely have my son read for a look at a real role model!

[Matthew Stanfill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. Written not long after TR's death this is the best reasonable sized bio for anyone not wanting to read edmund morris's trilogy on the bull moose.