Although this short introduction to Theodore Roosevelt was overall well done, it was a bit too praise worthy. The words AMERICAN HERO seemed stamped on every page. It was not until the last fifty pages that the author takes Roosevelt to task (the Brownsville incident and Roosevelt's conflicting dealings with Chinese immigrants and Japanese immigrants). The best part of this book was the tension between Wilson and Roosevelt in the run-up and during the first World War, which was the last 8-12 pages of the book.
I would recommend this book to junior high and high school students looking for a jump start to learning about Roosevelt the man and Roosevelt the POTUS, but there was not much detail about certain events other than his time as a Rough Rider to merit this book a great source. There was ample quotations from Roosevelt's own writings that show proper research was done, but then the author would paraphrase what was just quoted, making the writing at times repetitive. 3/5 stars.
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