Review: Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt

Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt by David McCullough
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First of all, this book is excellent. It portrays Teddy Roosevelt with all his eccentricities, his privileged upbringing and his tragedies (losing both his wife and mother to different diseases right after his daughter is born, on February 14th). It also discusses his family, the people around him and the times he was living in.

Unfortunately, this is not a biography, but just a biography through his 29th year. It only ever mentions his presidency and Nobel peace prize (and mayorship) in the afterword, and just very briefly. Having the subtitle "The story of ... the unique child who became Theodore Roosevelt" isn't exactly clear about not covering his adulthood.

So this just seemed misleading. Of course, calling it Theodore Roosevelt's life up to 29 years of age, or Teddy's youth, might not sell as many books.

Now I'm wondering if I should tackle another biography to actually read about his presidency, or just continue on to Taft.

Anyway, 5 stars for content. 1 star for being misleading. 3 stars overall I guess.

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