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Review
"Detroit News"This is a marvelous chronicle of manners and morals, love and duty, and as captivating as anything you will find between book covers in a long while.

John Leonard The New York Times We have no better social historian. -- Review

Review
Denver PostA fine account of Roosevelt's rise to manhood, well written and, like its subject, full of irrepressible vitality.

Detroit NewsThis is a marvelous chronicle of manners and morals, love and duty, and as captivating as anything you will find between book covers in a long while.

John LeonardThe New York TimesWe have no better social historian.

About the Author
David McCullough is the author of The Johnstown Flood (1968), The Great Bridge (1972), and The Path Between the Seas (1977), all of which received wide critical and popular acclaim, and the last (a book about the Panama Canal) not only won a number of literary prizes, including the National Book Award, but also was a major factor in the consideration of this nation's policy with respect to the Canal.

Customer Reviews

The Roosevelt's Unplugged
David McCullough completed "Mornings on Horseback" in 1980 and while not much has changed Teddy Roosevelt's life McCullough has enjoyed a surge in fame. McCullough is best known for his Pulitzer Prize winning portrayals of Truman and John Adams - each worthy of being a lifetime achievement.

"Mornings of Horseback" is cut from the same cloth as "Truman" and "John Adams" maybe not quite to the same level since it only covers the first 28 or so years of TR's life. However, it McCullough's ability to analyze the progression of TR's life and relate it back to his childhood and family dynamics is clearly on display.

"Mornings on Horseback" truly is a story of a "lost way of life" I know that I stole that from the front cover but it is the perfect description. McCullough explores the personalities of Theodore Sr., Mittie (TR's mother) and the grandmother. Each family member brought a unique characteristic to the family - Mittie was the quintessential southern-belle, Theodore Sr. was a man whose integrity and philanthropy knew no bounds. The life of a Roosevelt was one of learning, duty, and integrity - to violate these principles was to invite shame on the family.

Also intriguing is the description of the Roosevelt family trips - painted in great detail by McCullough. The Roosevelt family excursion down (and up) the Nile river where they lived in comfort on a flotilla passing the days fishing, hunting, loafing, and exploring.

A word of caution - this is not the definitive biography on TR - these is no mention of his days as a "Rough Rider" or his presidency. What we do have is a portrait of the family and the dynamics that made "TR" "Teddy".

Highly recommended

5 Stars

Very good, but not quite up to the standard on McCullough's other books
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...
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.