In this groundbreaking epic biography, Douglas Brinkley
draws on never-before-published materials to examine the
life and achievements of our "naturalist president." By
setting aside more than 230 million acres of wild America
for posterity between 1901 and 1909, Theodore Roosevelt made
conservation a universal endeavor. This crusade for the
American wilderness was perhaps the greatest U.S.
presidential initiative between the Civil War and World War
I. Roosevelt's most important legacies led to the creation
of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and passage of the
Antiquities Act in 1906. His executive orders saved such
treasures as Devils Tower, the Grand Canyon, and the
Petrified Forest.
Tracing the role that nature played in Roosevelt's storied
career, Brinkley brilliantly analyzes the influence that the
works of John James Audubon and Charles Darwin had on the
young man who would become our twenty-sixth president. With
descriptive flair, the author illuminates Roosevelt's bird
watching in the Adirondacks, wildlife obsession in
Yellowstone, hikes in the Blue Ridge Mountains, ranching in
the Dakota Territory, hunting in the Big Horn Mountains, and
outdoor romps through Idaho and Wyoming. He also profiles
Roosevelt's incredible circle of naturalist friends,
including the Catskills poet John Burroughs, Boone and
Crockett Club cofounder George Bird Grinnell, forestry
zealot Gifford Pinchot, buffalo breeder William Hornaday,
Sierra Club founder John Muir, U.S. Biological Survey wizard
C. Hart Merriam, Oregon Audubon Society founder William L.
Finley, and pelican protector Paul Kroegel, among many
others. He brings to life hilarious anecdotes of wild-pig
hunting in Texas and badger saving in Kansas, wolf catching
in Oklahoma and grouse flushing in Iowa. Even the story of
the teddy bear gets its definitive treatment.
Destined to become a classic, this extraordinary and
timeless biography offers a penetrating and colorful look at
Roosevelt's naturalist achievements, a legacy now more
important than ever. Raising a Paul Revere–like alarm about
American wildlife in peril—including buffalo, manatees,
antelope, egrets, and elk—Roosevelt saved entire species
from probable extinction. As we face the problems of global
warming, overpopulation, and sustainable land management,
this imposing leader's stout resolution to protect our
environment is an inspiration and a contemporary call to
arms for us all.
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