There are a good many books that have been written about President Theodore Roosevelt, and no two are exactly alike. That said, the two I’ve read—this one, and a biography by Clay Risen—could not be more different. In fact, you would never know they were writing about the same man.

My thanks go to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the invitation to read and review. This book was published in May, but it took me some time to push my way through it.  I started out not knowing what tack Shaara would take here, and it is this introductory note that caused me to sit back a bit:

“Few, very few, would disagree that Theodore Roosevelt ranks high among the most revered, most respected, and most admired presidents in history.”

I guess it’s time for me to change my name to Few.

Because I had signed on for it—on the strength of my admiration for its author, whose books I always read without regard to topic—I hunted down the audio version at Seattle Bibliocommons. The voice actor that reads it is second to none, and does a remarkable TR impression. But I also have to say that the various thoughts and conversations which the historical fiction genre permits its author to create seem a bit on the rosy side. Where is the TR that not only organized volunteers, himself included, to fight in Cuba, but used vast amounts of his family’s connections and wealth to advocate for it? Where is the braggard that crowed to his friends about how much he enjoyed shooting an enemy soldier from just a few feet away “like a jackrabbit,” and called his 45 days of combat the ultimate hunting trip?

This is one more reminder that all history is political. Nobody will, or should, write a book about a public figure that uses every single fact available, but it is when the author chooses what to include, and what to leave out, that bias shows. There’s no way around it, even for the most objective of writers.

I cannot deny that there were positive aspects of TR’s tenure in the White House (which he named,) the birth of the nation’s park system, beginning with Yellowstone; he also gets points for having seen, ultimately, that these are not meant to be preserved as hunters’ playgrounds, but rather to preserve the natural life, including animals, that are native to the park. His attitude toward women and Black peoples’ suffrage is laudatory, compared with other politicians of his time, but Shaara doesn’t comment on the ugly racist attitude Roosevelt displayed toward other races and ethnicities, most notably those from Central and South America.

This is a four star read because no matter what he chooses to write about, Shaara spins a tremendously entertaining tale. If you choose to read this one, I recommend you obtain the audio version, and take the dialogue and in particular, Roosevelt’s innermost thoughts with a larger than usual grain of salt, and also read a second, nonfiction work for balance.