AUDIOBOOK
About
A spirited and poignant family love story, revealing how an icon of rugged American masculinity was profoundly shaped by the women in his life, especially his mother, sisters, and wives.
Theodore Roosevelt wrote in his senior thesis for Harvard in 1880 that women ought to be paid equal to men and have the option of keeping their maiden names upon marriage. It's little surprise he'd be a feminist, given the women he grew up with.
His mother, Mittie, was witty and decisive, a Southern belle raising four young children in New York while her husband spent long stretches away with the Union Army. Theodore's college sweetheart and first wife, Alice-so vivacious she was known as Sunshine-steered her beau away from science (he'd roam campus with taxidermy specimen in his pockets) and towards politics. Older sister Bamie would soon become her brother's key political strategist and advisor; journalists called her Washington, DC, home "the little White House." Younger sister Conie served as her brother's press secretary before the role existed, slipping stories of his heroics in Cuba and his rambunctious home life to reporters to create the legend of the Rough Rider we remember today. And Edith-Theodore's childhood playmate and second wife-would elevate the role of presidential spouse to an American institution, curating both the White House and her husband's legacy.
A dazzling and lyrical look at one America's most significant presidents as we've never seen him before, “The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt” celebrates five extraordinary yet unsung women who opened the door to the American Century and pushed Theodore Roosevelt through it.
Theodore Roosevelt wrote in his senior thesis for Harvard in 1880 that women ought to be paid equal to men and have the option of keeping their maiden names upon marriage. It's little surprise he'd be a feminist, given the women he grew up with.
His mother, Mittie, was witty and decisive, a Southern belle raising four young children in New York while her husband spent long stretches away with the Union Army. Theodore's college sweetheart and first wife, Alice-so vivacious she was known as Sunshine-steered her beau away from science (he'd roam campus with taxidermy specimen in his pockets) and towards politics. Older sister Bamie would soon become her brother's key political strategist and advisor; journalists called her Washington, DC, home "the little White House." Younger sister Conie served as her brother's press secretary before the role existed, slipping stories of his heroics in Cuba and his rambunctious home life to reporters to create the legend of the Rough Rider we remember today. And Edith-Theodore's childhood playmate and second wife-would elevate the role of presidential spouse to an American institution, curating both the White House and her husband's legacy.
A dazzling and lyrical look at one America's most significant presidents as we've never seen him before, “The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt” celebrates five extraordinary yet unsung women who opened the door to the American Century and pushed Theodore Roosevelt through it.
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Reviews
"It is not only feasible but advisable to make women equal to men before the law," Theodore Roosevelt wrote as a Harvard senior, anticipating suffrage by 40 years. The sentiment was consonant with the life, one shaped, advised, fortified, and energized by women. O'Keefe assembles that extraordinary cast here, nimbly cataloguing the strategic, transformative power of Roosevelt's mother, daughter, s
Stacy Schiff, New York Times bestselling author of The Revolutionary
Listeners should not expect risqu� revelations about White House liaisons. The titular loves of Theodore Roosevelt are his mother, two wives, and two sisters. These five women were instrumental in creating the man who would become one of our most popular presidents. Author and narrator Edward F. O'Keefe tells listeners about these exceptional women who were reliable advisors, shrewd strategists, a
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