Theodore Roosevelt: A Life

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) was the first president to make the federal goverment rectify harsh social and economic conditions. It was during his administration (1901-1909) that the U.S. was transformed from a provincial nation on the fringes of global affairs into a world power. Those are key contentions of this first-rate biography, in which Miller ( FDR: An Intimate History ) covers the political accomplishments and personal facets of this prismatic figure--politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, historian, biographer, adventurer. What distinguishes this biography from others is its concentration on TR's relations with his close associates and his family, particularly his first and second wives (Miller is the first biographer to make extensive use of Roosevelt's courtship letters). Here is Teddy Roosevelt in three dimensions: ardent, inexhaustibly vital and astonishingly versatile. Photos. History Book Club and BOMC alternates. (Nov.)