Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt | 
 enlarge | Author: David Mccullough
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $28.00
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Rating:  79 reviews
Sales Rank: 26210
Format: Unabridged
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1.7
ISBN: 0743217381
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.911092
EAN: 9780743217385
ASIN: 0743217381
Publication Date: June 1, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Winner of the 1982 National Book Award for Biography, Mornings on Horseback is the brilliant biography of the young Theodore Roosevelt. Hailed as a masterpiece by Newsday, it also won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography. Now with a new introduction by the author, Mornings on Horseback is reprinted as a Simon & Schuster Classic Edition. Mornings on Horseback is about the world of the young Theodore Roosevelt. It is the story of a remarkable little boy, seriously handicapped by recurrent and nearly fatal attacks of asthma, and his struggle to manhood: an amazing metamorphosis seen in the context of the very uncommon household (and rarefied social world) in which he was raised. His father is the first Theodore Roosevelt, "Greatheart," a figure of unbounded energy, enormously attractive and selfless, a god in the eyes of his small, frail namesake. His mother, Mittie Bulloch Roosevelt, is a Southerner and celebrated beauty, but also considerably more, which the book makes clear as never before. There are sisters Anna and Corinne, brother Elliott (who becomes the father of Eleanor Roosevelt), and the lovely, tragic Alice Lee, Teddy Roosevelt's first love. And while such disparate figures as Abraham Lincoln, Mrs. John Jacob Astor, and Senator Roscoe Conkling play a part, it is this diverse and intensely human assemblage of Roosevelts, all brought to vivid life, which gives the book its remarkable power. The book spans seventeen years -- from 1869 when little "Teedie" is ten, to 1886 when, as a hardened "real life cowboy," he returns from the West to pick up the pieces of a shattered life and begin anew, a grown man, whole in body and spirit. The story does for Teddy Roosevelt what Sunrise at Campobello did for FDR -- reveals the inner man through his battle against dreadful odds. Like David McCullough's The Great Bridge, also set in New York, this is at once an enthralling story, with all the elements of a great novel, and a penetrating character study. It is brilliant social history and a work of important scholarship, which does away with several old myths and breaks entirely new ground. For the first time, for example, Roosevelt's asthma is examined closely, drawing on information gleaned from private Roosevelt family papers and in light of present-day knowledge of the disease and its psychosomatic aspects. At heart it is a book about life intensely lived...about family love and family loyalty...about courtship and childbirth and death, fathers and sons...about winter on the Nile in the grand manner and Harvard College...about gutter politics in washrooms and the tumultuous Republican Convention of 1884...about grizzly bears, grief and courage, and "blessed" mornings on horseback at Oyster Bay or beneath the limitless skies of the Badlands. "Black care rarely sits behind a rider whose pace is fast enough," Roosevelt once wrote. It is the key to his life and to much that is so memorable in this magnificent book.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 74 more reviews...
 Very good, but not quite up to the standard on McCullough's other books December 27, 2008
Note: The hardback book is listed as being unabridged, but no such label is provided for the paperback edition, implying that it is abridged in some way. I read the hardback, but I have examined the paperback closely and it appears to be the same, page for page. The one difference appears to be a Roosevelt family tree (for TR's parents, children and siblings) that appears on the inside cover of the hardback, but does not appear in the paperback.
I liked this book, but it is not quite as good as the other books that McCullough has written. This is not much of a criticism since McCullough is one of the best biographers and popular historians of our day.
The first half of the book is mostly about TR's father, Theodore Roosevelt Sr. His father was a seminal influence on TR's life, so recounting TR Sr.'s life and influence on TR are important, as is the picture of the late 19th century that TR was brought up in. The book details TR's early life, detailing his upbringing, time at Harvard, early political experiences and the personal tragedies that shaped his life. (His father died at a relatively young age leaving TR as the male head of the family while he was only 19 and his mother and wife died within 11 hours of each other.)
The picture of his college days and first term in the NY State Assembly is not an entirely flattering one (at least that is how I see it). He appears to be somewhat curious character and one that does not make the best first impression. He comes off as a rather eccentric, rich and supercilious young man who was sickly and physically unimposing. He was not the sort of man that made friends easily and was not universally well liked, but he was earnest, honest, courageous, hardworking and excessively loyal, and these qualities made people respect him when they got to know him. Much of the last part of the book deals how the three years spent on his Dakota ranch (after the death of his mother and wife) that transformed him physically into the man that most people today recognize as TR.
As I said at the beginning of this review, in my opinion this is not one of McCullough's best biographies. To some degree this is due to the fact that the book focuses on TR's formative years and not on the years that he took center stage in American history. I got a glimpse of TR, but did not get to know him as clearly as I would have like to. The book made me want to read more about TR and I have begun to do so, but I wish that McCullough had provided more of a comprehensive picture.
After having finished this review, I read H.W.Brands biography of TR, which I liked very much. The early chapters cover the same material as McCullough and I enjoyed them even more. I thought that they are more tightly written, conveying the same impression of TR, but in a more compact manner. Brands does not delve into the life of TR's father, which is both good and bad. Good because it more clearly focuses on TR, but bad because of the importance that TR's father had on his life. I gave "Mornings on Horseback" four stars because. While it is a good book, I feel that a reader would be somewhat better served by a book such as Brands', where you get the same information about TR's early life, but in a somewhat more compact manner, plus the information about the rest of his life.
Review: Mornings on Horseback... December 17, 2008
Excellent book purchased as a gift for a family member who is also a historian and avid reader. As always, McCullough has managed to captivate his readers with another well written biiography of a major figure in American history. He covers TR's early childhood and family background, his college travels to Europe, marriages, political career and his presidency as well as his post-presidency years on African safari and 1911-1912 entanglement with the Republican party. McCullough also covers TR's talents and enduring legacy as a historian, naturalist, explorer and author who continued to write clear into his later years and up to his death on subjects ranging from foreign policy to the importance of this country's national parks system - for which he provided the initial designs and provisions for preserving and maintaining national lands for future generations. I have recommended this book to a colleague who still teaches Special Topics courses in American History and Ecology as a possible read for a specialty course on Teddy Roosevelt and the creation of the US National Parks system.
 The making of a hero December 3, 2008
This was the first David McCullough book I ever read, a gift from a favorite aunt who knew and was fond of some descendents of TR's mother's family, the Bullochs. Though I was not yet a fan of non-fiction, this book changed my tastes. It's as readable as good fiction, with the added satisfaction of being a true story. David McCullough has a real gift for getting inside the lives of his subjects and making them human, and though he certainly chose a complex and interesting character in TR, this book is also largely about American social history and Roosevelt family history.
The physical challenges TR overcame and the personal losses he survived would have destroyed a lesser man, but by sheer strength of character he managed to transform himself into, well, TR. By his low-key recounting of the struggles and successes of this exceptional man, Mr. McCullough demonstrates the power of will and conveys the sheer exuberance of the man in this almost incredible story that just happens to be true.
Surely TR serves as a shining example of what it truly means to triumph over adversity, and what persistence and courage really mean. No whining here, and bully for him.
This book got me hooked on biographies, and Mr. McCullough's in particular. This is a good one to start with--it doesn't seem as scholarly as say, "John Adams" (not that that's a bad thing), and perhaps because TR's generation is closer to our own, it's very accessible and reader friendly. I particularly enjoyed the account of TR's childhood--the warmth of Mittie, his mother, and the details of their everyday lives--plush-lined, perhaps--but containing the kind of pain any contemporary reader can relate to.
For a wonderfully readable biography about a truly worthy subject of this master storyteller, look no further than "Mornings on Horseback." It would be a great introduction to history or biography for a young adult reader, as well as for jaded fiction readers looking for something with a little more meat.
 Teddy Roosevelt September 23, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book given to my brother, a history buff, who did not like it. He raved about 1776 by the same author.
MORNINGS ON HORSEBACK September 2, 2008
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
I NEVER RECIEVED THIS BOOK. It was returned to sender as undeliverable. The reason is the address was to my winter residence for which I have a mail transfer through the post office with mail going to my summer address and the post office would not transfer anything except fist class mail and I didn't know that when I placed the order. I will have to order it again after October first.
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