TR's Last War
Theodore Roosevelt, the Great War, and a Journey of Triumph and Tragedy
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Stackpole Books
Published:1st Jan '21
Should be back in stock very soon
An amazingly fresh approach to a much covered subject….
TR's Last War is a riveting new account of Theodore Roosevelt’s impassioned crusade for military preparedness as America fitfully stumbles into World War I, spectacularly punctuated by his unique tongue-lashings of the vacillating Woodrow Wilson, his rousing advocacy of a masculine, pro-Allied “Americanism,” a death-defying compulsion for personal front-line combat, a tentative rapprochement with GOP power brokers—and, yes, perhaps, even another presidential campaign. Roosevelt is a towering Greek god of war. But Greek gods begat Greek tragedies. His own entreaties to don the uniform are rebuffed, and he remains stateside. But his four sons fight “over there” with heartbreaking consequences: two are wounded; his youngest and most loved child dies in aerial combat. Yet, though grieving and weary, TR may yet surmount everything with one monumentally odds-defying last triumph. Poised at the very brink of a final return to the White House, death stills his indomitable spirit.
In his lively, witty, blow-by-blow style, David Pietrusza captures, through the lens of the Bull Moose, the 1916 presidential campaign, America’s entry into the Great War in 1917, Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, and the last years of one of American history’s greatest men, who said on his death bed at the age of sixty, “I promised myself that I would work up to the hilt until I was sixty, and I have done it. I have kept my promise….” Pietrusza not only transports readers with his dramatic portraits of TR, his hated rival Wilson, and politics in wild flux but also poignantly chronicles the horrific price a family pays in war.
"David Pietrusza has a gift for making the past both real and dramatically gripping." -- Richard Norton Smith, author of On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller
"A very gifted writer with a marvelous eye for anecdote." -- David Frum, (editor, The Atlantic), The Daily Best
"a great writer." -- Kimberly Guilfoyle, Fox News
"one of my favorite historians." -- Salena Zito, CNN Political Analyst
"the premier chronicler of 20th century presidential campaigns." -- John Bicknell, author of America 1844: Religious Fervor, Westward Expansion, and the Presidential Election That Transformed the Nation
"a master craftsman" -- The Nashville Tennessean
"Pietrusza’s election books are seriously awesome." -- David Stokes, WAVA (Washington, D.C.)
"an amazing political historian." -- Michael Malice, author of Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il
"a brilliant historian with a great instinct for the odd characters under appreciated by others . . ." -- John Rothmann, KGO-AM (SF)
"David Pietrusza isn’t just one of the best historians writing these days, he’s one of the best storytellers . . . By weaving political and historical crosscurrents that force the reader to juxtapose characters and otherwise abstract ideas, David Pietrusza has mastered the art of storytelling." -- Matt K. Lewis, columnist The Daily Beast
"His books . . . read like novels. If our history students in high school and college they might learn a thing or two about history and enjoy it in the process." -- Rob Taub, WOR (NYC)
"the Theodore White of our time." -- Karl Helicher
"Pietrusza’s skills as a researcher and a teller of tales stands out. His works are deeply written, informative . . . his works on these topics have superseded all previous works, and I predict they will stand the test of time." -- Richard Hamm, professor of history and public policy at the University at Albany
"one of America’s greatest presidential historians." -- The Vernucchio/Allison Report, WVOX (New Rochelle, NY)
Heart-breaking, thought provoking and gripping with a large measure of wit, David Pietrusza's new "TR's Last War" transports us to those few tragic years, 1916-1919, when America faced two visions of the future. Woodrow Wilson's oratorical Utopianism. Or Theodore Roosevelt's Bully Pulpit chauvinism. The outcome was a surprise. -- John Batchelor, syndicated radio host
ISBN: 9781493049127
Dimensions: 224mm x 143mm x 25mm
Weight: 535g
424 pages