Theodore Roosevelt: An American Mind: A Selection from His Writings

Theodore Roosevelt's (1885-1919) writings collected here reflect his varied roles and interests as president, soldier, patriot, naval reformer, naturalist, conservationist, explorer and big-game hunter. A man of causes and contradictions, his contradictions are very much on dispay in these pages, as DiNunzio ( American Democracy and the Authoritarian Tradition in the West ) points out. Roosevelt expresses outrage over the wanton slaughter of game, yet he and his son Kermit kill more than 500 animals on an African safari. He supports equal rights for women but holds traditional views about their place in the home. Not a few of Roosevelt's opinions fall far short of political correctness by today's standards; TR scorns as ``sentimental nonsense'' the charge that white settlers stole the Indians' land and refers to the ``backward race'' and the ``forward race'' to distinguish between black and white Americans. Controversial, but consistently provoking and entertaining. Photos. (Apr.)