The Rough Rider and the Professor: Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, and the Friendship That Changed American History

I've read a number of books on Teddy Roosevelt, and this one is a true gem! Even if you're not that interested in President Teddy, this is just a great read -- hope you'll lounge by the fireplace with a hot chocolate and enjoy it as much as I did!

Professor Jurdem has written another fantastic book. Similar to his first book, this book about President Theodore Roosevelt explores his deep friendship with Henry Cabot Lodge, and how Lodge helped propel TR’s political career.Jurdem writes in rich detail about the era and many of the most important figures of the day. The book is very well written and thoroughly noted. This book is riveting, informative, and enriching. Jurdem brings scholarship, style, and fresh insights to the collection of books about. TR’s life.

This is an interesting book, written in a unique style.‘The Rough Rider and the Professor’ is not a biography of either Theodore Roosevelt or Henry Cabot Lodge.Instead, this is a book which records and provides context for the interactions between these two men and their families with each other over the course of many years and circumstances, both public and private.The reader might compare this book to a long evening in a secluded estate overlooking Oyster Bay, listening to the reminiscences of The Grande Dame of the House speaking plainly but confidentially about times and personages from long ago...The book opens with a list of Cast of Characters, about 130 of them, lined up in alphabetical order, where we learn that Elihu Root managed to live for 91 years in that primitive and barbarous age, though most of his contemporaries were lucky enough to last only into their fifties or sixties.At the very conclusion of the book the author injects an out-of-character assault against Mr. Lodge’s character, based on material not provided in this book. A mystery inside an enigma prevails, but does not detract too much from reading this otherwise interesting and worthwhile tale.

The relationship between Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge is well worth an separate examination independent of the biographies, already written, of these two men. To the author's credit, he examined the original lettters between Lodge and Roosevelt, rather than relying on the heavily redacted edition of their correspondence that Lodge himself published late in his life. But . . .had I read a sample, I doubt I would have purchased the book. I would have stopped reading on p. 40, just as soon as I came across the description of TR and HCL in 1884 as "two young dudes"! Clearly, this is not an author with an ear for the language of the Gilded Age. Also, as the author notes about Lodge, "Bad grammar, whether spoken or written, always annoyed him . . . A split infinitive gave him positive pain." Thus, it is doubly unfortunate that the book is so poorly written. I have rarely seen, aside from a pile of student essays, so many misplaced modifying phrases. To take just two examples from many, "Having already alienated numerous members of the state GOP, Lodge believed Roosevelt's energy and curiosity required a national stage" p. 141 It's clear from the context the author wanted the phrase to pertain to Roosevelt, not Lodge, the subject of the sentence. Similarly, "Tall with a luminous smile and a sophisticated bearing, Bay Lodge was immediately intrigued" by his future wife Bessy. Once again the phrase was intended to describe Bessy, not Bay Lodge. Are there no copyeditors at Pegasus Books? Fortunately, the author has better grasp of politics than grammar, but one wishes for a book produced with greater care.

After reading several biographies of Theodore Roosevelt, I found that each provided fresh insights into one of our more interesting presidents. The Rough Rider and the Professor was no exception. However, the poor editing and writing style was very distracting. The author used numerous nouns to identify each of the characters (the senator, the scholar, the academic, etc.), and sometimes it was not immediately obvious to whom he was referring. There were instances ofsentences that obviously had meanings opposite to that the author intended. The misuse of the word “notoriety” throughout the text was particular grating. Unfortunately the editor was on vacation when the manuscript was submitted.