#414: Theodore Roosevelt, Writer and Reader

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 14 June 2018

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you’ve been following The Art of Manliness for awhile, you know we’re big fans of Theodore Roosevelt. The man embodied the Strenuous Life. He was a rancher, a soldier, a hunter, a statesman, and a practitioner of boxing and judo. But what many people don’t know about Roosevelt was that he was also an accomplished man of letters. He wrote over forty books himself and read thousands of others over the course of his lifetime. And as my guests on the show point out, TR’s literary life was tightly interwoven with his mighty deeds. Todayon the show, historians (and husband and wife team) Thomas Bailey and Katherine Joslin discuss their book Theodore Roosevelt: A Literary Life. We discuss how Roosevelt began the writing habit as a 7-year-old boy and how he wrote one of America's greatest military histories when he was just 24 years old. We then discuss TR’s greatest literary successes, including The Rough Riders, The Winning of the West, and African Game Trails. Thomas and Katherine share how Roosevelt’s penchant for action influenced his writing and how his writing inspired him to take action, and how John Wayne and Western movies wouldn’t exist without TR's literary work. We then get into Roosevelt's reading habits, including his opinion of compiling lists of must-read books. You’re going to gain new insights about one of America’s larger-than-life characters listening to this show. Get the show notes at aom.is/trwriter.

Transcript

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0:00.0	[♪ INTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪
0:13.9	Burett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.
0:18.1	If you've been following the Art of Manliness for a while, you know we're big fans of
0:21.4	Theodore Roosevelt, the man embodied the strenuous life.
0:24.8	He was a rancher, a soldier, a hunter, a statesman, and a practitioner of boxing in
0:29.2	Judo. But what many people don't know about Roosevelt was that he was also an accomplished
0:33.2	man of letters. He wrote over 40 books himself and read thousands of others over the course
0:37.3	of his lifetime, and as my guest on the show point out, T.R.'s literary life was tightly
0:41.8	interwoven with his mighty deeds. Today on the show, historians and husband and wife
0:45.9	team Thomas Bailey and Catherine Jocelyn discussed their book Theodore Roosevelt,
0:49.9	a literary life. We discussed how Roosevelt began the writing habit as a seven-year-old boy,
0:54.0	and how he wrote one of America's greatest military histories when he was just 24 years old.
0:58.4	We then discussed T.R.'s great literary successes, including the rough writers,
1:01.6	the winning of the West and African game trails. Thomas and Catherine share how Roosevelt's
1:05.2	pension for action influenced his writing and how his writing inspired him to take action,
1:10.0	and how John Wayne and Western movies wouldn't exist without T.R.'s literary work.
1:14.6	We then get into Roosevelt's reading habits, including his opinion on compiling
1:17.5	lists of must-read books. You're going to gain new insights about one of America's
1:21.2	larger-than-life characters listening to the show. After it's over, check out the show notes at
1:24.8	a-wim.is slash T.R. Writer.
1:40.8	Tom Bailey, Catherine Jocelyn, welcome to the show.
1:43.5	So thanks for having us. Thanks for having us. We're glad to be here.
	...

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