Theodore Roosevelt and the American Political Tradition

"Yarbrough’s text is more than just a political history of an individual’s ideas. She has created an effective and concise biography. She uses Roosevelt’s library, including his own writings, to reconstruct effectively the complicated and evolving puzzle that was Theodore Roosevelt’s political philosophy."—The Historian

"A thorough, fair, balanced account of [Roosevelt’'s] political thought."—American Political Thought

“Yarbrough adroitly contrasts Roosevelt’s emergent Progressivism with the traditional ideas found in the Declaration of Independence, demonstrating how the Progressive movement reconstituted US politics. Her sense of Roosevelt’s place in the American political tradition is sure. Yarbrough gives a full accounting of the race-based and scientistic (Darwinian) assumptions that undergirded Roosevelt’s aspirations toward national greatness and large-scale communitarian politics. The book is written in an accessible, clear style.”—Choice

“In this extraordinary book centering on Theodore Roosevelt, Yarbrough has combined three genres to produce a new kind of political writing. As biography, it offers a rich and compelling account of TR’s life, especially in the period of his mature years. As intellectual history, it supplies the best treatment to date of TR’s own political thought, situating it within the framework of the various strands of progressivism. Finally, as political theory in its own right, it explores TR’s political and constitutional ideas in the light of the thought of the founders and of Abraham Lincoln, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of TR as both a thinker and statesman. Yarbrough has pulled off the perfect intellectual trifecta.”—James W. Ceaser, author of Reconstructing America: The Symbol of America in Modern Thought

“This is a book of the first importance, and comes at an important moment. No one before Yarbrough has endeavored, with such patience and ingenuity, to demonstrate that, contrary to his bluff and unreflective public image, Roosevelt was a man heavily driven by ideas. And no one before Yarbrough has had the temerity to point out that, for all Roosevelt’s sincere professions of devotion to the Founding Fathers, those ideas were a dagger aimed at the heart of the Founders’ Constitution. A hundred years after the passing of Progressivism’s high tide, it is long past time for a reevaluation of Theodore Roosevelt and his legacy. Here is the book to begin with.”—Wilfred M. McClay, author of The Masterless: Self and Society in Modern America

“Taking Theodore Roosevelt seriously as political thinker, Yarbrough shows convincingly that the Rough Rider contributed significantly to a redefinition of the American social contract. Thoroughly researched, carefully argued, and well written, this book offers fresh insights into how TR became permanently etched in the American imagination and left a legacy that poses fundamental challenges to the Framers’ Constitution. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the deep philosophical and historical roots of contemporary developments in American political life.”—Sidney M. Milkis, author of Theodore Roosevelt, the Progressive Party, and the Transformation of American Democracy

“Roosevelt has at last received the attention of a superb analyst of his political thought. Yarbrough’s stylish and comprehensive study goes beyond the show and the bombast to the ambition, the power, and the failings of TR’s designs for republican self-government.”—Harvey C. Mansfield, author of Manliness and Machiavelli’s Virtue

“A path-breaking book, this major work of scholarship makes an important contribution to the literature on Roosevelt. But it will prove even more significant for the understanding of American political thought and development, in particular the character of Progressivism and how it transformed the constitutional system.”—James R. Stoner, Jr., author of Common-Law Liberty: Rethinking American Constitutionalism