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by Mark I. West (Author)
President Theodore Roosevelt called himself a "book lover" and for good reason. From his boyhood days in the 1860s to the very end of his life in 1919, Roosevelt had a deep-seated passion for reading books. Wherever he went, he brought books with him. Whether he was rounding up cattle on a ranch in North Dakota, giving campaign speeches from the back of a train, governing the nation from the White House, or exploring an uncharted tributary of the Amazon River, he always made time to read books. Theodore Roosevelt and His Library at Sagamore Hill includes an overview of Roosevelt's life as a reader, a discussion of the role that reading particular books played in shaping his life and career, and a short history of his personal library. The book also provides researchers and others interested in Roosevelt's life with a complete list of Roosevelt's books that are currently located at Sagamore Hill, his home in Oyster Bay, New York. The books in his personal library reflect his love of classic works of literature, his interest in history, and his fascination with the natural sciences. Theodore Roosevelt and His Library at Sagamore Hill concludes with an essay that Roosevelt wrote near the end of his life in which he reflected on his reading habits and commented on some of his favorite books.
Author Biography
Mark I. West is a professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he teaches courses on children's and young adult literature. He also holds the title of Bonnie E. Cone Professor in Civic Engagement. He has written or edited sixteen books, the most recent of which is Shapers of American Childhood: Essays on Visionaries from L. Frank Baum to Dr. Spock to J. K. Rowling, which he co-edited with Kathy Merlock Jackson. His articles have appeared in various national publications, such as the New York Times Book Review, Publishers Weekly, Americana, and British Heritage, as well as many academic journals. He has published several articles on Theodore Roosevelt including "Theodore Roosevelt and the Golden Age of Children's Literature," which appeared in The Journal of American Culture, and "Preserving a Presidential Persona: A Bibliophile President Created a Well-Traveled Library" which appeared in New York Archives. He recently gave an invited lecture titled "Theodore Roosevelt and the Makings of an Activist Reader" as part of the Rites of Reading Lecture Series at the University of Michigan.
