Product Description
The life of Theodore Roosevelt is one well worth studying by any American boy who wishes to make something of himself and mount high on the ladder of success.The twenty-sixth President of our country is a fine type of the true American of to-day, full of vim and vigor, quick to comprehend, and equally quick to act, not afraid to defend his opinions against all comers when satisfied that he is in the right, independent, and yet not lacking in fine social qualities, physically and morally courageous, and with a faith in himself and his God that is bound to make for good so long as he clings to it. ... Read more

Product Description
PREFACE TO FOURTH VOLUME.

This volume covers the period which opened with the checkered but
finally successful war waged by the United States Government against the
Northwestern Indians, and closed with the acquisition and exploration of
the vast region that lay beyond the Mississippi. It was during this
period that the West rose to real power in the Union. The boundaries of
the old West were at last made certain, and the new West, the Far West,
the country between the Mississippi and the Pacific, was added to the
national domain. The steady stream of incoming settlers broadened and
deepened year by year; Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio became states,
Louisiana, Indiana, and Mississippi territories. The population in the
newly settled regions increased with a rapidity hitherto unexampled; and
this rapidity, alike in growth of population and in territorial
expansion, gave the West full weight in the national councils.

The victorious campaigns of Wayne in the north, and the innumerable
obscure forays and reprisals of the Tennesseeans and Georgians in the
south, so cowed the Indians, that they all, north and south alike, made
peace; the first peace the border had known for fifty years. At the same
time the treaties of Jay and Pinckney gave us in fact the boundaries
which the peace of 1783 had only given us in name. The execution of
these treaties put an end in the north to the intrigues of the British,
who had stirred the Indians to hostility against the Americans; and in
the south to the far more treacherous intrigues of the Spaniards, who
showed astounding duplicity, and whose intrigues extended not only to
the Indians but also to the baser separatist leaders among the
Westerners themselves.

The cession of Louisiana followed. Its true history is to be found, not
in the doings of the diplomats who determined merely the terms upon
which it was made, but in the western growth of the people of the United
States from 1769 to 1803, which made it inevitable. The men who settled
and peopled the western wilderness were the men who won Louisiana; for
it was surrendered by France merely because it was impossible to hold it
against the American advance. Jefferson, through his agents at Paris,
asked only for New Orleans; but Napoleon thrust upon him the great West,
because Napoleon saw, what the American statesmen and diplomats did not
see, but what the Westerners felt; for he saw that no European power
could hold the country beyond the Mississippi when the Americans had
made good their foothold upon the hither bank.

It remained to explore the unknown land; and this task fell, not to mere
wild hunters, such as those who had first penetrated the wooded
wilderness beyond the Alleghanies, but to officers of the regular army,
who obeyed the orders of the National Government. Lewis, Clark, and Pike
were the pioneers in the exploration of the vast territory the United
States had just gained.

The names of the Indian fighters, the treaty-makers, the wilderness
wanderers, who took the lead in winning and exploring the West, are
memorable. More memorable still are the lives and deeds of the settler
folk for whom they fought and toiled; for the feats of the leaders were
rendered possible only by the lusty and vigorous growth of the young
commonwealths built up by the throng of westward-pushing pioneers. The
raw, strenuous, eager social life of these early dwellers on the western
waters must be studied before it is possible to understand the
conditions that determined the continual westward extension of the
frontier. Tennessee, during the years immediately preceding her
admission to statehood, is especially well worth study, both as a
typical frontier community, and because of the opportunity afforded to
examine in detail the causes and course of the Indian wars.

In this volume I have made use of the material to which reference was
made in the first; beside the American State Papers, I ... Read more

Product Description
Follows the life of the dynamic twenty-sixth president, discussing his conservation work, hunting expeditions, family life, and political career. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt
My fourth grade daughter read the book for a project on a president.Very factual information given in book.Order of organization in book is good for her age.The book has been fun for her to read and myself as well as I followed along with her.

Where have you gone, Teddy Roosevelt, our nation turns...
Jean Fritz is perhaps best known for her short picture book biographies of Revolutionary War Heroes.I was anxious to read this particular book, and to my great surprise found it to be much longe than her usual fare.Just the same, the book carries the same spirit and adept interesting writing Fritz has employed on her other ventures.I had some disappointments with this book, it's true, but all in all I think it's a fine biography and the best one out there for any kid interested (or required) in reading about our odd twenty-sixth President.

We begin with a small sickly boy.Young Teddy (a name he accepted but disliked) was asthmatic and, as a result, of poor constitution.Pressed by his adored father to make something of himself, Ted set about exercising and pushing himself so as to become strong and tough.This man was truly an embodiment of all that was masculine.As he grew he was continually obsessed with nature, and it was assumed that he would someday go into the field of naturalism.As it happened, Teddy got waylaid and after taking some law went into politics.What was to follow was a madcap series of election losses, faithful Republican supporters, and, in time, a war.

Now it is around the time that Fritz starts describing Teddy's involvement in the Spanish-American War that she loses me.What separates Fritz from James Giblin or Russell Freedman (two excellent historical biographers for children in their own right) is that she refuses to blame Teddy for anything.As a writer she obviously admires her subject, and you can see why.There was much to admire about the man.At the same time, however, this was a fairly war-hungry fella.Unlike Giblin, who has written such wonderful biographies as "Charles Lindbergh: A Human Hero", Fritz doesn't show the problems that came with Teddy's choices.There is little doubt to my mind that Teddy saw the Spanish-American War as a "just" war.There is also little doubt that it most certainly was NOT a just war.Even when it becomes clear that the American public was misled in its thinking that war was the only answer ("Remember the Maine" anyone?) and that Teddy was a part of that misinformation, Fritz ignores such controversial topics.And what of the muckrakers?Where's Teddy's famous dismissal of hard-hitting journalism?Too much is left unsaid or avoided in this book to allow it to be considered one of the great children's biographies out there.Additionally, one does have to take issue with Fritz's portrayal of the Native Americans.As a previous reviewer has pointed out, Fritz's facts (though she includes a lovely bibliography of sources) seem sketchy.

Which isn't to say there isn't a lot to love here.There are Fritz's thrilling tales of Mr. Roosevelt's life.As an author, she has packed a great deal of info into this book.Everything from ponies in the White House to the origin of the teddy bear is included here.Accompanying Fritz's narration are some great illustrations by Mike Wimmer.My objection to them might be that even when we are viewing a young 20-some year-old Teddy, the illustrations are clearly of an older man.How hard would it have been to erase the waddle on the twenty-three year old Ted?Even shots of our protagonist as a boy show him with his head almost completely turned away from the viewer.It would have been nice if Mr. Wimmer had had a little more confidence in his own artistic abilities.

On the whole, it's a nice book.I know I've talked it down and pointed out its inconsistencies, but in spite of my own personal feeling, Teddy Roosevelt is a subject well worthy of a biography.This, after all, was the pro-environment president.The president who fought against huge corporations and went head-to-head with J.P. Morgan.The times in which we live today could use another Theodore R.When big business is just as large as ever and the national parks Teddy created are threatened by drilling, we should look back at heroes like the one found in this book and remember that sometimes a single man can accomplish a lot in his day.

An Excellent Read!
This was such a joy to read.I just couldn't put the book down.I had no idea that Teddy Roosevelt had an affliction that he overcame, thanks in part to his ambitious father.

Until I read this book, I had no idea that Teddy Roosevelt thrived on adventure or that he collected specimens of animals.It's amazing that he managed to survive all of his adventures like he did being as sick as he was.Everything the man did was to test his endurance if not make history as well.

Now I understand his push for conserving the nation's natural resources.By the time he became president, there weren't many wild animals left or trees for that matter.At any rate, this book was fun to read, especially when Teddy Roosevelt climbed to the top of Mount Marcy before the death of McKinley.

It really amazed me how much energy the man had. Probably from all those treks out west when he was a boy to hunt or whatever.The gym his father built was nothing like what he faced on his many sojourns out west and to Africa.It made me dizzy to read about all those campaign stops and speeches.

At first, I thought this book a little slow when I read about his early life, but then it picked up when Teddy begin serving on various Civil Service jobs and eventually gaining the Vice-Presidency under McKinney and being elected to a second term as President afterward.

I highly recommend this book.

Bully for you, theodore roosevelt!
An excellent chidren's biography of theodore roosevelt, which will be enjoyed by people of all ages.My only criticism is that the books title should be 'Bully for you, theodore roosevelt,' instead of 'Bully for you, teddy roosevelt,' a name which to him was anathema.

Unacceptable historical errors
Although Jean Fritz is an award winning author of history books, she makes some serious errors in this book making it unacceptable for school libraries. I love her writing style and the way she relates many humorous stories of Teddy Roosevelt's childhood, but when she relates his western adventures her historical research is seriously lacking. She refers to how the Sioux Indians killed 10,000 buffalo a feat which would have been impossible since the tribe was totally defeated, low in numbers, and relegated to reservations in the time period she described, the late 1880s. White buffalo hunters, not Native Americans slaughtered buffalo for their tongues and left their carcasses to rot. The Sioux had a tremendous respect for nature and only hunted a few buffalo at a time, just enough to feed their tribal group.

These egregious fallacies make this book totally unacceptable. Children should be given historical sources that are accurate, not ones that perpetuate myths. It is unfortunate since the rest of the book is wonderful and with some judicious editing, this would be one of the best children's biographies of Roosevelt. ... Read more

Product Description
Focuses on the childhood of the dynamic president, describing how Teddy worked hard to improve his poor health and developed a lifelong interest in nature and the conservation of natural resources. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

No one could listen to this.
This is a review of the audiobook only. School is ended and until summer camp starts, my 8 year old daughter has to go to work with me. I stocked up on audiobooks to keep her busy. We both were really excited about the one on Teddy Roosevelt, and started with it first. I set her up listening in the lunchroom and I went back to work. After 5 minutes she showed up in my office saying that there was something wrong with the tape, like it was in slow motion. We played it on another cassette player. We played the other tapes. They're all the same. Lloyd James reads this book one syllable at a time and sounds like a 5 year old that is trying to sound out every word. It goes so unnaturally slow that I thought the cassette spool must be warped. One star is too high.

In A Kid's Words
Teddy Roosevelt, Rough Rider is interesting because it is a biography and history of Teddy Roosevelt as a child.He liked natural history and even stuffed the animals he caught himself - yuck!When he grew up and was president, he was involved in saving park and forest land and wildlife. Yellowstone Park was one of the parks he helped with.He had asthma but hewanted to build up his body to be strong, so he did a lot of sports likeboxing and horseback riding.He liked to read and write books.A funnypart of the story involved frogs, but you'll have to read it yourself tofind out!

In A Kid's Words
Teddy Roosevelt, Rough Rider is interesting because it is a biography and history of Teddy Roosevelt as a child.He liked natural history and even stuffed the animals he caught himself - yuck!When he grew up and was president, he was involved in saving park and forest land and wildlife. Yellowstone Park was one of the parks he helped with.He had asthma but hewanted to build up his body to be strong, so he did a lot of sports likeboxing and horseback riding.He liked to read and write books.A funnypart of the story involved frogs, but you'll have to read it yourself tofind out! ... Read more