A Companion to Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt is among the most popular American presidents. He was the first to tackle the trusts and advocate federal control of the economy and government protection of the underprivileged, and the first really environmentally–conscious chief executive, whose conservation policies, by today s standards, seems truly insightful.

Most episodes of Theodore Roosevelt s eventful life and career have been thoroughly studied by researchers; yet, A Companion to Theodore Roosevelt is the first comprehensive anthology to encompass Roosevelt as whole, highlighting both his multi–faceted personality and his skilled diplomacy. It provides background and interpretive reading for the non–specialist while also addressing the needs of scholars seeking in–depth knowledge of the 26th president.

A Companion to Theodore Roosevelt revitalizes and internationalizes scholarship on Roosevelt with contributions from both sides of the Atlantic, not only by some of the established Roosevelt specialists and many other respected scholars, but also by a new generation of historians. The result is a fresh and extensive historiographical exploration of Roosevelt s life and ideas, his political career and achievements, and his legacies.

List of Figures x

Notes on Contributors xi

Introduction: An All–Time Historian′s Favorite 1
Serge Ricard

1. The Education of Theodore Roosevelt 8
Michael L. Collins

2. Theodore Roosevelt s Early Political Career: The Making of an Independent Republican and Urban Progressive 27
Edward P. Kohn

3. The Assistant Secretary of the Navy and the Spanish–American War Hero 45
Joseph Smith

4. The Rough Rider as Super–Politician: Theodore Roosevelt′s Ascendancy on the National Political Stage 59
Steven Doherty

5. Preparedness and Defense: The Origins of Theodore Roosevelt′s Strategy for the United States on the International Stage 78
J. Simon Rofe

6. Roosevelt s Republic 94
Joshua D. Hawley

7. Sex and Gender in Roosevelt s America 112
Andrew M. Johnston

8. "A Serious Art and Literature of Our Own": Exploring Theodore Roosevelt′s Art World 135
Stephen L. Levine

9. Theodore Roosevelt, Presidential Power and the Regulation of the Market 154
Gary Murphy

10. The Quality of Theodore Roosevelt s Environmentalism 173
Ethan Fishman

11. Theodore Roosevelt and the Indians 186
Roger L. Nichols

12. "Half a Southerner": President Roosevelt, African Americans and the South 198
Adam D. Burns

13. Theodore Roosevelt and the Press 216
John M. Thompson

14. Theodore Roosevelt and the Joys of Family Life 237
Jon L. Brudvig

15. The Global Strategist: The Navy as the Nation s Big Stick 257
Carl Cavanagh Hodge

16. Theodore Roosevelt, the Panama Canal, and the Roosevelt Corollary: Sphere of Influence Diplomacy 274
Stephen G. Rabe

17. Theodore Roosevelt and Canada: Alaska, the "Big Stick" and the North Atlantic Triangle, 1901 1909 293
Tony McCulloch

18. Anglo–American Partnership: The Foundation of Theodore Roosevelt′s Foreign Policy 314
William N. Tilchin

19. Theodore Roosevelt and the "Special Relationship" with France 329
David G. Haglund

20. America s First Intervention in European Politics: Theodore Roosevelt and the European Crisis of 1905 1906 350
Douglas Eden

21. The End of an Era: Theodore Roosevelt and the Treaty of Portsmouth 368
Eugene P. Trani and Donald E. Davis

22. Japanese–American Relations: The 1906 California Crisis, the Gentlemen s Agreement, and the World Cruise 391
David S. Patterson

23. "Uplifting the Barbarian" 417
Carol C. Chin

24. Roosevelt in Africa 435
Patricia O′Toole

25. The New Nationalism and Progressive Issues: The Break with Taft and the 1912 Campaign 452
Claire Delahaye

26. The Great War, Americanism Revisited, and the Anti–Wilson Crusade 468
Lloyd E. Ambrosius

27. Theodore Roosevelt s Contradictory Legacies: From Imperialist Nationalism to Advocacy of a Progressive Welfare State 485
Kathleen M. Dalton

28. The Memory of Theodore Roosevelt through Motion Pictures 502
M. Patrick Cullinane

Conclusion: A Rooseveltian Century? 521
Serge Ricard

Bibliography 528

Index 561

Serge Ricard is Professor Emeritus of American Studies and U.S. History at the Sorbonne Nouvelle (University of Paris III), France. He has published extensively in both French and English on Theodore Roosevelt, American expansionism, U.S. foreign policy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and Mexican–American culture. His publications include Théodore Roosevelt: principes et pratique d une politique étrangère (1991), The Mass Media in America: An Overview (1998), and The Manifest Destiny of the United States in the 19th Century: Ideological and Political Aspects (1999).

Serge Ricard and his collaborators in this magnificent enterprise have managed to convey both the complexity of the person and the appeal of the leader... conveyed in essays which manage to blend critical scholarship with clarity of expression.   (The Journal of Transatlantic Studies, December 2013)

It is solidly made and will last. It comes as a hardback and, somewhat more cheaply, as an e–book.   (Reference Reviews, 1 December 2012)

"The Blackwell Companions to American History series provides essential and authoritative overviews of the scholarship that has shaped our present understanding of the American past." (Expofairs.com, 3 December 2011)