Roosevelt the Explorer: T.R.'s Amazing Adventures as a Naturalist, Conservationist, and Explorer

by H. Paul Jeffers

Overview

Jeffers' book chronicles Theodore Roosevelt's lifelong quests and expeditions—thrilling and often dangerous journeys that produced much important scientific research and took him across North America, South America, and Africa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461734376
Publisher:	Taylor Trade Publishing
Publication date:	11/04/2002
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	328
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

H. Paul Jeffers was the author of more than fifty books, including Colonel Roosevelt, Freemasons,and Dark Mysteries of the Vatican. He appeared on C-SPAN, Fox News, and The History Channel. He died in 2009.

Table of Contents

Part One: Enough to Make It Exciting
Chapter 1: Curious Teedie
Chapter 2: Back-East Dude
Chapter 3: Danny, Davy, and Teddy
Chapter 4: Strong as a Bull Moose
Part Two: For the Generations to Come
Chapter 5: To Learn to Swim, You Must Get into the Water
Chapter 6: Former Stamping Ground
Chapter 7: A Bear Named Teddy
Part Three: Hurrah for Africa
Chapter 8: “Health to the Lions!”
Chapter 9: The Man on the Cowcatcher
Chapter 10: The Lions of the Kapiti
Chapter 11: I Am Not a Rhinoceros Mind-Reader
Chapter 12: Land of the Masai
Chapter 13: Crossing the Thirst
Chapter 14: With Rifle and Camera
Chapter 15: Most Interesting of All the animals
Chapter 16: Tales by Poe on the Upper Nile
Part Four: To Be a Boy Again
Chapter 17: Reunion at Khartoum
Chapter 18: Merely Deferred
Chapter 19: A Difficult Trip Ahead
Chapter 20: “I’m bully!”
Chapter 21: All Well and Cheerful
Chapter 22: The Oxford Book of French Verse
Chapter 23: A River of Real Importance
Chapter 24: Murder in the Jungle
Chapter 25: A Wedding in Spain

Editorial Reviews

The whole is far less than the sum of its parts in this misguided rehash of the 26th president's more exotic adventures. With every page littered with quotations from previous biographers and from Roosevelt himself, Jeffers, with four previous Roosevelt titles to his credit, manages to do little more than list the animals Roosevelt killed and the praises he garnered for his exploits. Roosevelt loved to hunt, but Jeffers's odd attempts at politically correct revision-e.g., asserting that Roosevelt's expeditions were scientific and not merely "for the sheer sport of it"-are undermined by endless blow-by-blow accounts of TR's expeditions and the thousands of kills on parade. The author's treatment of Native Americans and defense of Social Darwinism are baffling in a 21st-century title. He closes with the intriguing tale of Roosevelt's expedition down the River of Doubt in Brazil, but in the end Jeffers hasn't added enough new material or drawn enough broader conclusions to make the endless procession of flat anecdotes worthwhile. Along the way, so much authority is turned over to Roosevelt's previous biographers that the work often reads like an extended bibliography. Big-game hunters possessed of turn-of-the-last-century sensibilities might like this, but it's hard to see an audience for what's essentially a clumsy effort to celebrate TR's prowess with a rifle. Roosevelt was an admirable naturalist and a great white hunter, but all Jeffers bags here is an exceedingly shaggy dog. Photos. Agents, Jake Elwell and Olga Wieser. (Jan.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Theodore Roosevelt was filled with contradictions. A purveyor of Big Stick foreign policy, he was also the first President to win a Nobel Peace Prize; he loved hunting yet had a conservationist's ethic; he retained a boyish enthusiasm even as a mature adult; and despite his wanderlust, he anchored a traditional family life. Broadcast journalist Jeffers, whose dozens of works include Theodore Roosevelt Jr: The Life of a War Hero and The Bully Pulpit: A Teddy Roosevelt Book of Quotations, adds this study of TR's continental explorations in North America, Europe, Africa, and South America, where a river is named for him in Brazil. The author relies in part on his previous work and standard TR biographies but also on the many articles and books that America's 26th President wrote, including Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter (1902), the first book penned by a chief executive while still in the White House. Though most of this story is familiar to scholars, Jeffers's telling will appeal to the general reader. Recommended for public libraries.-William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ., Shreveport Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

A fascinating, affectionate biography of Roosevelt the outdoorsman, hunter, adventurer, nature-lover, and westerner. Filled with striking quotations and evocative details.

Edward E. Leslie

Theodore Roosevelt loved both nature and adventure. Whether ranching in the Dakotas, pursuing big game in Africa, or exploring South American rivers, T.R. lived the strenuous life other dreamed of leading. Now H. Paul Jeffers brings that story to life in a vivid, fast-paced narrative that at times is as breathtaking as the man himself.

Brooks D. Simpson

[A] good introduction to readers unfamiliar with Roosevelt’s writings.

Gateway: The Magazine of the Missouri History Museum

Most people think of Thomas Jefferson as the quintessential Renaissance president, while Theodore Roosevelt is remembered as a trust-busting empire builder. But, as H. Paul Jeffers shows, Roosevelt was a highly developed natural scientist, explorer, and the first real environmental president. As an avid outdoorsman, hunter, and associate member of Roosevelt’s own Boone and Crockett Club, I read Jeffers’ text with a feeling that I was at T.R.’s side.

Charles M. Robinson III

[A] good introduction to readers unfamiliar with Roosevelt’s writings.

Missouri History Museum: Gateway

[A] good introduction to readers unfamiliar with Roosevelt’s writings.

Gateway: The Magazine of the Missouri History Museum

Theodore Roosevelt loved both nature and adventure. Whether ranching in the Dakotas, pursuing big game in Africa, or exploring South American rivers, T.R. lived the strenuous life other dreamed of leading. Now H. Paul Jeffers brings that story to life in a vivid, fast-paced narrative that at times is as breathtaking as the man himself.

Brooks D. Simpson