The Wilderness Warrior; Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America

New York: Harper (An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers), 2009. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Nick Springer (Maps). xv, [3], 940, [2] pages. Illustrated end papers. Illustrations. Maps. Appendix. Notes. Index. Theodore Roosevelt's crusade on behalf of America's national parks. Douglas Brinkley (born December 14, 1960) is an American author, Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and professor of history at Rice University. Brinkley is the history commentator for CNN and a contributing editor to the magazines Vanity Fair and American Heritage. A public spokesperson on conservation issues, Brinkley serves as an editor at Audubon Magazine. He joined the faculty of Rice University as a professor of history in 2007. Brinkley worked closely with his mentor, historian Stephen E. Ambrose, then director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans. Ambrose chose Brinkley to become director of the Eisenhower Center, a post he held for five years before moving to Tulane University. Brinkley is the literary executor for his late friend, the journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson. Derived from a Kirkus review: A vigorous, detailed and carefully documented biography of the visionary president who put so much land and so many resources in the public trust. Brinkley makes an important contribution to our understanding of Theodore Roosevelt as conservationist and preservationist by providing both a personal and an intellectual genealogy. His father was a founding member of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where young Theodore logged considerable time. On the intellectual front, he was an ardent student of animal life. Certainly, his active interest in the outdoors and constant sojourns in wild places helped Roosevelt overcome youthful sickliness. The author also shows us how, as president, Roosevelt brought so much of the public domain under the strong protection of the federal government, adding to the national parks, forests and lands systems. He did this in part by working a network of like-minded preservationists. Magisterial and timely.