The Roosevelt Family of Sagamore HIll Author:Hermann Hagedorn Alive with the magic of Theodore Roosevelt's inspiring personality, this is the story of the joys and struggles, the defeats and triumphs of a family that made headlines and history for a quarter of a century. — As head of the clan, TR was both champion and companion, a man who put as much energy into an obstacle race on the lawn as he did into a... more » presidential campaign. An unbeatable spirit put him out in front of everything he did, as Governor of New York, in the Navy Department, in the wild charge up San Juan Hill, as head of state. "Hit the line hard" was Teddy's advice to his children. As a result there was a refreshing boldness and directness about all the Roosevelts whether it was Alice enlivening a staid party with a cap pistol, or Archie dispensing with a presumptuous news photographer.
As if he were one of the family, the reader will the happy, noisy days at Sagamore Hill (now a national shrine) and in Washington, participating in the games of "crack-the-whip," the pillow fights, the shooting matches, the hair-raising raids. He will come to know, as only the family knew her, the charming and courageous Edith Carew Roosevelt. He will live through times of sorrow and bitterness, sensing TR's disappointment at Wilson's refusal to permit him to command a division in France, sharing the family grief at the heroic death of Quentin in France. But in their reverses and moments of bereavement the family was sustained, as always, by a faith in the goodness of life which shines through on every page of this heart-warming book.
When Roosevelt died in 1919 it seemed to one commentator as if a military band had stopped playing. This book is the perfect explanation of that remark. To read it is to have the reward and pleasure of knowing intimately one of America's great families and greatest personalities.« less