The Lion's Pride
Theodore Roosevelt and His Family in Peace and War
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- 9,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
In The Lion's Pride, Edward J. Renehan, Jr. vividly portrays the grand idealism, heroic bravery, and reckless abandon that Theodore Roosevelt both embodied and bequeathed to his children and the tragic fulfillment of that legacy on the battlefields of World War I.
Drawing upon a wealth of previously unavailable materials, including letters and unpublished memoirs, The Lion's Pride takes us inside what is surely the most extraordinary family ever to occupy the White House. Theodore Roosevelt believed deeply that those who had been blessed with wealth, influence, and education were duty bound to lead, even--perhaps especially--if it meant risking their lives to preserve the ideals of democratic civilization. Teddy put his principles, and his life, to the test in the Spanish American war, and raised his children to believe they could do no less. When America finally entered the "European conflict" in 1917, all four of his sons eagerly enlisted and used their influence not to avoid the front lines but to get there as quickly as possible. Their heroism in France and the Middle East matched their father's at San Juan Hill. All performed with selfless--some said heedless--courage: Two of the boys, Archie and Ted, Jr., were seriously wounded, and Quentin, the youngest, was killed in a dogfight with seven German planes. Thus, the war that Teddy had lobbied for so furiously brought home a grief that broke his heart. He was buried a few months after his youngest child.
Filled with the voices of the entire Roosevelt family, The Lion's Pride gives us the most intimate and moving portrait ever published of the fierce bond between Teddy Roosevelt and his remarkable children.
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In his examination of TR's last years, Renehan creates a story that is at once a family tragedy and the denouement of a way of thinking. For 39-year-old Teddy Roosevelt, the 1898 Spanish-American War was the fulfillment of a romantic martial ideal and compensation for a history of frail health and his father's use of a substitute to avoid conscription during the Civil War. His much-publicized exploits with the Rough Riders shaped his career and his sense of self to such an extent that he welcomed WWI as an opportunity for his sons and for the nation. But although TR's sons--Ted Jr., Kermit, Archie, Quentin--were eager to find the fastest way to the front, the nation and President Wilson were not. Renehan parallels TR's strident calls for military "preparedness" with his sons' efforts to train themselves for a war America would eventually join in 1917. Even in Europe--far from their father's influence--the boys goaded each other, going so far as calling Quentin a slacker because pneumonia prevented him from getting to the front fast enough. In the end, the Roosevelts suffered for their daring: TR would write a friend, " have done pretty well, haven't they? Quentin killed... Archie crippled... Ted gassed...." But despite his bravado, TR was stricken and would outlive his youngest son by only a few months. Through previously unpublished family papers, judiciously chosen facts and a moving narrative that skillfully parallels the personal and political, Renehan reveals a great deal about American society and politics, and about the culture of war. But most of all, he tells a sad story of the end of an era and the end of a man. 36 halftones not seen by PW. BOMC, History Book Club alternate. Author tour.
