Heir to the Empire City; New York and the Making of Theodore Roosevelt
Philadelphia, PA: Basic Books, 2014. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. xv, [1], 256 pages. Includes Introduction, Prologue, New York at Roosevelt's Birth; Roosevelt at Harvard; 1881: A Year in New York; Roosevelt's Work in the New York Assembly; Roosevelt's Trips West; Roosevelt's 1886 Bid for Mayor; Roosevelt as Civil Service Commissioner; Roosevelt as Police Commissioner; Assistant Secretary of the Navy, War in Cuba, and Roosevelt's Path to Albany; Roosevelt, Thomas Platt, and the New York Governorship; and The New York President. Also contains Epilogue, Acknowledgments, Bibliography, and Index. The author argues that Roosevelt, vigorously attached to New York, never left home in his heart and mind. From the moment he was first elected to public life, Roosevelt learned from the city's people, its streets, and its politicos. His apprenticeship in New York made him a seasoned leader, and more than prepared him for his tasks as president. Edward P. Kohn received his Ph.D. in history from McGill University in 2000, after receiving his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College in 1990 and his Master of Arts from Victoria University, New Zealand, in 1992. Kohn is the author of numerous articles and books on America’s 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt. Most recently, Kohn published A Most Glorious Ride: The Diaries of Theodore Roosevelt, the first time these volumes have ever appeared in print.
Kohn serves as dean of the College of Liberal Arts, with an appointment in the Department of History and Political Science. As dean, Kohn seeks to foster internationalization, faculty research, and interdisciplinarity. As a teacher and scholar, Kohn remains interested in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era in United States history, especially the conjunction of politics and culture.
Derived from a Kirkus review: Kohn’s study of Theodore Roosevelt focuses on the influence of his hometown, New York City, in shaping his political legacy.
The legacy of Roosevelt most commonly conjures the image of a “Rough Rider” on horseback storming San Juan Hill in Cuba. This image is part of the mythology that paints a portrait of the president as a man of rugged individualism and self-determination. While the West remained a fixation for Roosevelt, Kohn points out that this idea of Roosevelt as a man of the range is a product of his own retrospective self-mythologizing and that the most important influence on Roosevelt’s life and political career was not the West but his hometown. Born and raised into a well-respected family, Roosevelt followed the example of his charitable and honorable father by cultivating himself as a reformer. Quickly rising through the ranks of local Republican leadership, he asserted himself as a public official willing to stand up to the corruption of the spoils system and earned a reputation as a gruff enforcer while serving as a New York police commissioner before becoming governor, then president, following William McKinley’s assassination. Kohn corrects many assumptions about Roosevelt’s life and ambitions. An intriguing portrait of Roosevelt’s ascendance to power that will leave readers wanting more of his life and work. Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. Presidents, New York Governors, New York, Civil Service Commission, William McKinley, Rough Riders
ISBN: 9780465024292
[Book #79302]
Price: $35.00