Publishers Weekly
03/04/2024
The women in Theodore Roosevelt’s life strongly influenced his political career, historian O’Keefe argues in his elegant debut study. Roosevelt’s mother, sisters, and first wife Alice all had a guiding hand in his early political ambitions, according to O’Keefe; moreover, the 1884 deaths (on nearly the same day) of Alice and his mother were such a blow that he left politics altogether, spending the next 15 months on his cattle ranches in the Dakota territory. An unexpected 1885 run-in with his childhood sweetheart Edith drew him back east, and his involvement with the Republican Party renewed, in O’Keefe’s telling, thanks to prompting from Edith, who as his wife went on to steer Roosevelt through his rapid ascent to the White House. Calling Edith “the first modern first lady,” O’Keefe contends that she defined the role with her careful management of her husband’s career and, after his death, his legacy. O’Keefe’s frequent quotations from diaries and letters provide a charmingly intimate view of his subjects. (Describing how Roosevelt addresses Alice in correspondence, he writes: “ ‘Pretty,’ ‘sweet,’ ‘baby’—which became ‘baby wife’ after the couple wed—alternate with ‘queen,’ ‘purest queen,’ ‘my pure flower,’ ‘my pearl,’ and ‘my sweet, pretty queen.’ ”) Roosevelt admirers and readers interested in women’s exercise of political power will enjoy this one. (May)
From the Publisher
Edward F. O’Keefe has given us an elegant and illuminating account of the human side of one of the most consequential Americans in our history. By detailing Theodore Roosevelt's emotional connections to the women in his life, O’Keefe reminds us that leaders are not made of marble but of heart and flesh. This is a wonderful book.”
—Jon Meacham, New York Times bestselling author of And There Was Light
“A graceful, powerful book that lets us into the lives of the remarkable women who shaped an extraordinary man. If you want to truly understand Theodore Roosevelt, this book is an essential guide.”
—Candice Millard, New York Times bestselling author of River of Doubt
““It is not only feasible but advisable to make women equal to men before the law,” Theodore Roosevelt wrote as a Harvard senior, anticipating suffrage by 40 years. The sentiment was consonant with the life, one shaped, advised, fortified, and energized by women. O’Keefe assembles that extraordinary cast here, nimbly cataloguing the strategic, transformative power of Roosevelt’s mother, daughter, sisters, and wives, all of them complicit, to different and often remarkable degrees, in TR’s meteoric career.”
— Stacy Schiff, New York Times bestselling author of The Revolutionary
“An extraordinary portrait of the women who nurtured, advised, and propelled one of America’s most compelling leaders. The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt is history unearthed and more fully understood, at last.”
—Susan Page, New York Times bestselling author of The Matriarch
“A brilliantly written and entertaining look at the crucial role women played in our 26th president’s political career. Highly recommended!”
—Douglas Brinkley, New York Times bestselling author of The Wilderness Warrior
“Entertaining.... [O’Keefe] celebrates [these extraordinary women’s] devotion, skills and accomplishments. In doing so, he leads us to a better understanding of an equally extraordinary man, Theodore Roosevelt.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“The language is beautiful... and seeing Theodore’s life through the lens of his female family members gives it an intimacy sorely missed in many other biographies.”
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Forget all that Rough Rider stuff; Roosevelt was a mushy romantic at his core, and... also quite progressive, which is another pleasant shocker in this very fine book.”
—Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan
“O’Keefe presents a perceptive and persuasive argument that adds a sensitive dimension to the masculine persona of Theodore Roosevelt.”
—Washington Independent Review of Books
“A fascinating celebration of women who helped make an iconic president.... [O’Keefe’s] prose brings vitality and nuance to his subjects.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
2024-01-17
Behind every great man, there is a greater woman—in Theodore Roosevelt's case, five women.
O’Keefe, the CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation, offers illuminating portraits of the women—Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, Anna Roosevelt Cowles, Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, and Alice Hathaway Lee—who helped mold one of the most significant political figures of the 20th century. The author’s exhaustive research is evident, and his prose brings vitality and nuance to his subjects. Relying on a treasure trove of family letters and other archival documents, O’Keefe succeeds in proving his thesis about the Roosevelt women's centrality in shaping the bombastic president, but the execution is uneven. Some speculation is required to flesh out the motives and desires of Martha, the Roosevelt matriarch, and Alice, Roosevelt’s first wife. Tragically, Alice's presence in her husband's life was brief (she died at age 22), and what little is known of her thoughts comes from a cache of letters preserved by her daughter. Given that most of Alice's correspondence was deliberately destroyed following her death, the author is forced to rely on other scholars' musings about a variety of topics, including Alice's purported influence on Roosevelt's Harvard thesis on women's suffrage and her rationale for accepting his marriage proposal. O'Keefe finds better footing when chronicling the life of Edith, Roosevelt's childhood friend and second wife, and Anna and Corinne, his two sisters, for whom there is a lifetime of correspondence. The author amply demonstrates how Anna repeatedly picked up the pieces of her brother's life when tragedy struck; how Corinne was his political sounding board; and how Edith created the modern First Ladyship while curating public knowledge about her marriage and her husband's legacy.
For fans of presidential history, a fascinating celebration of women who helped make an iconic president.
