The Old Lion: A Novel of Theodore Roosevelt, by Jeff Shaara

 Publication May 16, 2023

No one does it better that Jeff Shaara. When it comes to bringing historical figures and events to life, he shines. As a history major and history lover, I thought I knew a great deal about Theodore Roosevelt. I wasn't totally wrong. Being familiar with his life and times, however, was nothing like seeing it through the eyes of Roosevelt. 

True, this is historical fiction, but Shaara backs his story with solid research. You'll feel like you're there, whether through the eyes of the young, terrified boy who feels every breath he takes may be his last. Asthma had him in its grip as a young man and treatments were not only often vomit inducing but painful to the then frail Roosevelt. His father's suggestion that he fight back by making himself stronger and spend more time outdoors, not to mention take up boxing, colored much of his early life. You'll feel his desire to make his father proud.

 Later, you're there with him then, just as you are when he loses both his wife and mother on the same day. You'll join him on horseback in the Badlands, during the height of his military fame, as he rears his own family, and enters politics. Most notably, you'll probably understand why many of his political foes wished he'd stayed in the Badlands. You campaign with him, knowing what it's like to be the target of an assassin. You'll travel with him to Panama. You'll feel his ever growing weakness as pain invades, pain only adding to his despair at the loss of his son Quinton in WWI. 

That's really only skimming the surface of Roosevelt's eventful, meaningful life. Shaara does an excellent job putting you in his shoes, letting you feel his pain/hopes/triumphs/and more, allowing you to see it all through the eyes of Roosevelt himself. I first encountered a Shaara book while seeking insight into the Battle of Gettysburg as part of my family roots search. I'm delighted to have run into him and the sometimes exasperating, always amazing Theodore Roosevelt now. As is probably obvious, I highly recommend you read this one. 

Thank you #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for reminding me what I've been missing by not reading a Jeff Shaara book for, well, too long.