Theodore Roosevelt: Twenty-Sixth President of the United States

by Zachary Kent

Book Overview

Examines the personality, early life, family, and career of the twenty-sixth president of the United States. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0516013548
• ISBN13: 9780516013541
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Children's Press(CT)
• Length: 100 Pages
• Weight: 4.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.3" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 10 to 13 years
• Grade Range: Grades 5 to 8

Customer Reviews

Teddy Roosevelt: Man of Action and First Modern President

Most of the juvenile biographies of Theodore Roosevelt begin in media res, with a defining moment in T.R.'s history. The usual choice is when T.R. became the youngest President in history when William McKinley was assassinated, but Zachary Kent picks instead the Rough Riders storming San Juan Hill during the Spanish American War. The choice is significant because Kent presents the life of Theodore Roosevelt as being that of a fighter who charged through life the same way he charged up San Juan Hill. But Kent also argues throughout this juvenile biography that Roosevelt's progressive politics helped thrust the United States into the modern age.Kent divides T.R.'s life into nine chapters: (1) "Get Action!" introduces Roosevelt as a Colonel in the Rough Riders storming San Juan Hill; (2) A Fighter is Born looks at his childhood, where the young boy suffering from asthma transformed himself into a boxer, and how his early political career went off track following the tragic day when both his wife and mother died; (3) The Four-Eyed Maverick tells about both T.R.'s life as a rancher in the Dakota Badlands and his return to politics after his second marriage; (4) From Police Department ot Navy Department looks at the two jobs where T.R. made his reputation in New York and Washington; (5) Rough Rider to the White House covers how T.R.'s experiences in Cuba got him elected governor of New York and his reputation put him on the national Republican ticket in 1900 as the Vice Presidential candidate. Young readers will be surprised to learn he did not want the position, and it was only an ironic twist of fate that made him President.Kent covers the Roosevelt presidency in a pair of chapters: (6) Wielding a Big Stick details how T.R. invigorated the White House as he filled out McKinley's term, continuing to lead "The Strenuous Life" and advancing the Progressive cause, from inviting Booker T. Washington to the White House to breaking up business monopolites; (7) Adventurous President deals with the 1904 election, when T.R. was elected to the White House in his own right, and his focus shifted to foreign affairs, most notably settling the Russo-Japanese War (for which he would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize) and visiting the construction of the Panana Canal. If they have been working through the Presidents in chronological order (I have been going alphabetically), young readers will note that with T.R. we have what they would recognize as being the first "modern" President. This volume is also rather unique in the Encyclopedia of Presidents series because it is one of the view that devotes two chapters to the life of its subject after leaving the White House: (8) Bull Moose Candidate relates how T.R. was unhappy with his hand-picked successor, William Howard Taft, and ran the most successful third party campaign in 1912 on the Progressive ticket, finishing second to Woodrow Wilson; and (9) The Lion is Dead covers T.R.'s active retirement exploring Braz