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Fear God and Take Your Own Part and Other Essays
Fear God and Take Your Own Part is Theodore Roosevelt’s cutting criticism of pacifism and the lack of preparedness of his country under Woodrow Wilson’s administration.
Writing two years after the outbreak of World War One, Roosevelt saw that helpless nations such as Belgium were being utterly destroyed by the forces of war, yet the United States was following a policy a neutrality.
America itself was under threat by Germany, its merchant shipping was being attacked and the Lusitania had been sunk in 1915 causing the deaths of over one thousand innocent passengers. However, even despite this Roosevelt continued to see his beloved nation pursuing an isolationist and pacifist policy.
Roosevelt therefore uses this book as a call to arms. He urges the government to begin training its young men in preparation for the fight which he believed the United States must join.
This work is a collection of long essays in which Roosevelt comments on a wide variety of America’s foreign policy issues. As the New York Times states, one chapter provides a “slashing indictment” of Wilson’s “Administration toward Mexico, wherein Colonel Roosevelt charges that the President has, in effect, interfered in Mexico in the matter of purely internal affairs and has refused to interfere for the protection of American citizens.”
Although Roosevelt wrote Fear God and Take Own Part one hundred years ago it remains as pertinent for the twenty-first century as it was for the twentieth.
“Its remarkable chapters are treated in a style almost brutal in its frankness and regard to truth.” The Columbia Spectator
Theodore Roosevelt was an American statesman, author, explore, soldier, naturalist and reformer who served as the 26th President of the United States. He died in 1919.
Writing two years after the outbreak of World War One, Roosevelt saw that helpless nations such as Belgium were being utterly destroyed by the forces of war, yet the United States was following a policy a neutrality.
America itself was under threat by Germany, its merchant shipping was being attacked and the Lusitania had been sunk in 1915 causing the deaths of over one thousand innocent passengers. However, even despite this Roosevelt continued to see his beloved nation pursuing an isolationist and pacifist policy.
Roosevelt therefore uses this book as a call to arms. He urges the government to begin training its young men in preparation for the fight which he believed the United States must join.
This work is a collection of long essays in which Roosevelt comments on a wide variety of America’s foreign policy issues. As the New York Times states, one chapter provides a “slashing indictment” of Wilson’s “Administration toward Mexico, wherein Colonel Roosevelt charges that the President has, in effect, interfered in Mexico in the matter of purely internal affairs and has refused to interfere for the protection of American citizens.”
Although Roosevelt wrote Fear God and Take Own Part one hundred years ago it remains as pertinent for the twenty-first century as it was for the twentieth.
“Its remarkable chapters are treated in a style almost brutal in its frankness and regard to truth.” The Columbia Spectator
Theodore Roosevelt was an American statesman, author, explore, soldier, naturalist and reformer who served as the 26th President of the United States. He died in 1919.
192 pages, Paperback
Published December 8, 2016
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About the author
Theodore Roosevelt
2,356 books904 followersTheodore Roosevelt, Jr., also known as T.R., and to the public (but never to friends and family) as Teddy, was the twenty-sixth President of the United States, and a leader of the Republican Party and of the Progressive Movement.
He fathered Alice Roosevelt Longworth, a daughter.
He became the youngest President in United States history at the age of 42. He served in many roles including Governor of New York, historian, naturalist, explorer, author, and soldier (posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001 for his role at the Battle of San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War).
Roosevelt is most famous for his personality: his energy, his vast range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" persona.
He fathered Alice Roosevelt Longworth, a daughter.
He became the youngest President in United States history at the age of 42. He served in many roles including Governor of New York, historian, naturalist, explorer, author, and soldier (posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001 for his role at the Battle of San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War).
Roosevelt is most famous for his personality: his energy, his vast range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" persona.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 1, 2017
A Stirring Series of Essays
This book shows the reason Theodore Roosevelt stands as one of America's greatest presidents and led America to be the world power it is today. Roosevelt has a great ability to translate public policy into moral terms. One wishes that our politicians of the present day could do to same.
The arguments in this book provide the basis for America taking the leading role on the world stage. It lambastes Germany for its violation of Belgian neutrality and unrestricted submarine warfare in WWI. However, I don't believe that Roosevelt conclusively proves that the USA ought to have gone to war when Germany violated the Hague Treaty. Still, Roosevelt offers one of the best arguments as to why it was right for the USA to enter the Great European War.
This book shows the reason Theodore Roosevelt stands as one of America's greatest presidents and led America to be the world power it is today. Roosevelt has a great ability to translate public policy into moral terms. One wishes that our politicians of the present day could do to same.
The arguments in this book provide the basis for America taking the leading role on the world stage. It lambastes Germany for its violation of Belgian neutrality and unrestricted submarine warfare in WWI. However, I don't believe that Roosevelt conclusively proves that the USA ought to have gone to war when Germany violated the Hague Treaty. Still, Roosevelt offers one of the best arguments as to why it was right for the USA to enter the Great European War.
February 16, 2023
Excellent book
The 1880's through 1920, is difficult read, one sentence may be a paragraph long. I have taught that T R created the crisis in Colombia to build the Panama Canal, which is obviously wrong. He speaks of preparedness and the utter failure of the Wilson administration. He speaks of the hyphenated Americans, National Service, failures in Mexico, Belgium, Armenia. He speaks of the preliminary of the Navy.
The 1880's through 1920, is difficult read, one sentence may be a paragraph long. I have taught that T R created the crisis in Colombia to build the Panama Canal, which is obviously wrong. He speaks of preparedness and the utter failure of the Wilson administration. He speaks of the hyphenated Americans, National Service, failures in Mexico, Belgium, Armenia. He speaks of the preliminary of the Navy.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews