Saturday, March 12, 2005
TR: The Best Man for the job.
Theodore Roosevelt is the most entertaining of U.S. Presidents. Reading three books a day, hiking miles for fun, starting wars, and writing book after book, the man never slowed down.
Harvey Mansfield has a very interesting study of TR's manliness in the current edition of The New Criterion. It is a truncated picture of TR, but by narrowing his focus Mansfield is using TR to address Pragmatism and masculinity. It is not the best introduction to TR for that reason. If you have a moment read "TR: The Last Romantic" by H.W. Brands. The writing is superb, the subject is a character, and you will wonder how we went from a President Roosevelt to a President Clinton.
Harvey Mansfield has a very interesting study of TR's manliness in the current edition of The New Criterion. It is a truncated picture of TR, but by narrowing his focus Mansfield is using TR to address Pragmatism and masculinity. It is not the best introduction to TR for that reason. If you have a moment read "TR: The Last Romantic" by H.W. Brands. The writing is superb, the subject is a character, and you will wonder how we went from a President Roosevelt to a President Clinton.
