He inherited a sense of entitlement (and obligation) from his family, yet eventually
came to see his own class as suspect. He was famously militaristic, yet brokered
peace between Russia and Japan. He started out an archconservative, yet came to champion
progressive causes. These contradictions are not evidence of vacillating weakness:
instead, they were the product of a restless mind bend on a continuous quest for
self-improvement.

In Theodore Roosevelt, historian Kathleen Dalton reveals a man
with a personal and intellectual depth rarely seen in our public figures. She shows
how Roosevelt’s struggle to overcome his frailties as a child helped to build his
character, and offers new insights into his family life, uncovering the important
role that Roosevelt’s second wife, Edith Carow, played in the development of his
political career. She also shows how TR flirted with progressive reform and then
finally commited himself to deep reform in the Bull Moose campaign of 1912. Incorporating
the latest scholarship into a vigorous narrative, Dalton reinterprets both the man
and his times to create an illuminating portrait that will change the way we see
this great man and the Progressive Era.