Includes an exclusive audio postscript featuring archival recordings of the voices of the Roosevelts, including Theodore (one of the first US presidents to have his voice captured on audio), Eleanor, Edith, Corinne, and Alice.
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. Itâs little surprise heâd 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. Theodoreâs college sweetheart and first wife, Aliceâso vivacious she was known as Sunshineâsteered her beau away from science (heâd roam campus with taxidermy specimens in his pockets) and towards politics. Older sister Bamie would soon become her brotherâs key political strategist and advisor; journalists called her Washington, DC, home âthe Little White House.â Younger sister Conie served as her brotherâs 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 EdithâTheodoreâs childhood playmate and second wifeâwould elevate the role of presidential spouse to an American institution, curating both the White House and her husbandâs legacy.
A dazzling and lyrical look at the making of one of Americaâs most remarkable presidents, 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.