A Bully Father:: Theodore Roosevelt's Letters to His Children

McCullough's introduction and Kerr's family chronicle set the stage for this wonderful collection of letters-an instant bestseller in 1919-that reveals how seriously yet lightheartedly Theodore Roosevelt took his role as father of six lively children. Written between 1898 and 1911, the letters begin with a letter to the ``Blessed Bunnies'' as he's about to embark on a military expedition to Cuba and end with a letter complaining about a hat the children ``forced'' him to buy. In between: letters to the children on such matters as the construction of the Panama Canal, mental telepathy, hunting trips, family pets, Charles Dickens (``an illnatured, selfish cad and boor, who had no understanding of what the word gentleman meant'') and one hilarious letter about the president grappling with a Japanese wrestler in the White House. These examples are not exactly typical, however, for each letter is delightfully different, addressed not so much to a child as to a beloved individual regarded as an equal. The volume includes 40 photos of the family at play. Kerr co-edited The Romantic Egoists. (Oct.)