Historian Douglas Brinkley draws on never-before-published materials to
examine the life and achievements of our "naturalist president." By
setting aside more than 230 million acres of wild America for posterity
between 1901 and 1909, Theodore Roosevelt made conservation a universal
endeavor. This crusade for the American wilderness was perhaps the
greatest U.S. presidential initiative between the Civil War and World
War I.
Tracing the role that nature played in Roosevelt's storied career,
Brinkley brilliantly analyzes the influence that the works of John James
Audubon and Charles Darwin had on the young man who would become our
twenty-sixth president. He also profiles Roosevelt's incredible circle
of naturalist friends, including the Catskills poet John Burroughs,
Boone and Crockett Club cofounder George Bird Grinnell, and Sierra Club
founder John Muir, among many others. He brings to life hilarious
anecdotes of wild-pig hunting in Texas and badger saving in Kansas. Even
the story of the teddy bear gets its definitive treatment.
Destined to become a classic, this extraordinary and timeless biography
offers a penetrating and colorful look at Roosevelt's naturalist
achievements, a legacy now more important than ever. As we face the
problems of global warming, overpopulation, and sustainable land
management, this imposing leader's stout resolution to protect our
environment is an inspiration and a contemporary call to arms for us
all.
