Theodore Roosevelt

"Hawley has pieced together an interesting interpretation of Theodore Roosevelt. . . . [A] well-written, insightful book. Recommended."—Choice

"Joshua David Hawley has made a contribution to this literature with a different kind of biography, offering a fresh interpretation of Roosevelt. . . . Hawley is an impressive researcher . . . at times eloquent. . . . This is a persuasive book." —Ryan J. Barilleaux, The Historian

"Joshua Hawley . . . considers Roosevelt as a serious political thinker whose creed is worthy of our attention. As a result, the 26th president emerges as a complicated figure, not the shoot-from-the-hip outdoorsman, whom Mark Hanna derided as 'that damned cowboy.' . . . The author analyzes his subject so as to explain how a headstrong, elitist continues to be listed among our greater presidents."—John M. and Priscilla S. Taylor, Washington Times

"Joshua Hawley's achievement is that he does not let us forget that, with all his idiosyncrasies, Theodore Roosevelt remains one of America's great figures."—Henry S. Cohn, The Federal Lawyer

". . . remarkable first book." —Jean M. Yarbrough, Claremont Review of Books

“Hawley situates Roosevelt in a rich political/intellectual culture that stretches from the 1870s until the First World War and provides a perspective on Theodore Roosevelt that is largely missing from current historiography.”—Mark Lytle, Bard College

“A fresh and persuasive approach to Theodore Roosevelt.”—John Morton Blum, Yale University

“Theodore Roosevelt deserves to be acknowledged at least as much for what he thought as for what he did, and with this book Hawley at last redresses the balance between Roosevelt the thinker and Roosevelt the doer. Those who read Preacher of Righteousness will never again be able to dismiss him simply as 'pure act', a legendary description archly tendered by Roosevelt's learned friend, Henry Adams.”—From the Foreword by David Kennedy

“Joshua Hawley has made an important contribution to the literature on Theodore Roosevelt. His well-written study reminds readers that Roosevelt was a provocative political thinker whose influence on American thought and institutions continues to be profound. Hawley’s work captures the energy and insight that Roosevelt brought to the art of politics.”—Lewis L. Gould, author of Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans