The Rough Riders - Good Old Reads

The Rough Riders - Fall River Press - 2014

Theodore Roosevelt - Autobiography 1913 — Theodore Roosevelt

If you have an interest in military history—or perhaps want to relish the exploits of a genuinely honorable leader—you’ll want to read this book and understand why Roosevelt was so revered by The Rough Riders.

High Point: Roosevelt’s leadership qualities shine through the entire narrative.

Low Point: The book–reading almost like a daily diary–is often repetitive and rather tedious.

Author: Theodore Roosevelt

Publication Date: 1899

Genre: History

From the Theodore Roosevelt Collection of the Houghton Library of Harvard University — Theodore Roosevelt (left) with Col. Henry Turner in Cuba on July 12, 1898 (Photo: Harvard University)

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Back when the United States still produced great honorable leaders, Theodore Roosevelt distinguished himself as a politician, statesman, outdoorsman, conservationist, and military officer. Those qualities shine through in his account of The Rough Riders.

During the Spanish-American War in 1898, the Rough Riders were a volunteer regiment assembled from an unlikely group of cowboys, Ivy League athletes, lawyers, preachers, and others. Together as a unit for less than six months, they served in Cuba for just more than two. Participating in the major operations of the war, they were best known for the Battle of San Juan Hill for which Roosevelt was eventually awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

In addition to the fighting, Roosevelt goes into great detail about the training, the miserable conditions in Cuba, the inadequate logistics capabilities of the United States military, and much more. He invests much of this history describing the efforts and exploits of individual Rough Riders—how they fought, and in many cases, how they died.

Roosevelt was an accomplished writer, and it shows in this history. But his account resembles a daily diary. As a result, the narrative sometimes seems repetitive to the point of being a bit tedious. This is not a fast-paced narrative.

And be aware that this book reflects its cultural context. Roosevelt’s attitudes related to some topics are clearly controversial when viewed with today’s eyes. For example, war is glorified even as he describes its devastation on his unit and the local civilian population. But despite that, Roosevelt’s personal courage and leadership qualities help offset somewhat those negative views that simply reflect their time.

Quotes

All—Easterners and Westerners, Northerners and Southerners, cowboys and college graduates, wherever they came from, and whatever their social position—possessed in common the traits of hardihood and a thirst for adventure. They were to a man born adventurers, in the old sense of the word.