First, to be clear, I admire and respect author David McCullough. I found his book "1776" to be a compelling page-turner. His other books, plus his work on PBS's "American Experience" and Ken Burns' "The Civil War" have earned him a righful place as one of America's preeminent historians.
That said, McCullough's 1981 book, "Mornings on Horseback," is not his best work. The book, which includes the "origin story" of Theodore Roosevelt among its various topics, suffers from a lack of focus and too much minutiae.
Even the subtitle of the book — "The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt" — hints at McCullough's uncertainly over the scope of the book. The blend of at least three topics with frequent digressions of questionable relevance results in an uneven mixture. Not all the storylines deserve the detailed attention McCullough gives them.
Before I go too far down this negative track, let me emphasize that "Mornings on Horseback" is not a bad book. McCullough clearly dug deep in his research, combing through Roosevelt family letters and diaries, as well as other historical documents, and some of what he has to share is quite eye-opening.
First, there is Teddy Roosevelt's father, Theodore, who turns out to be almost as interesting as his future-president son. Theodore Roosevelt Senior, McCullough explains, was a wealthy man who devoted much of his life to philanthropy and public service, so much so that he earned the nickname "Greatheart." He worked to find homes for homeless children, established New York Children's Orthopedic Hospital, helped fund the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History, and supported efforts to rid government of corruption.Clearly, Teddy Roosevelt got his core principles of honesty, fairness and public service from his father. After the elder Theodore's death, Teddy wrote, "I shall try to lead such a life as he would have wished, and to do nothing I would have been ashamed to confess to him."
Another surprise from this book (for me, anyway) is how wealthy the Roosevelts were. The enormous family fortune, built from selling plate glass and investments in real estate and banking, dated back at least three generations before Teddy Roosevelt and was eventually passed down to him.
He grew up in one Manhattan mansion before his family moved to an even grander mansion uptown when he was 15. The latter home was so large the Roosevelts once sent out 500 invitations to a party to be held there. Another mansion, at Oyster Bay on Long Island, came later. At each home, family needs were tended to by footmen, maids and butlers.
His family spent a year touring Europe in style when Teddy was 10 and 11, and another well-funded year in Egypt, the Middle East, and Europe when he was 14 and 15. At Harvard, Teddy lived on stipend that was more than the college's president salary.
By far the most interesting throughline in this book is the story of how Teddy Roosevelt developed from an asthma-ridden child — "embarrassingly undersized and underweight, a scrawny frame with stick arms and stick legs," writes McCullough — into a unstoppable personality who stormed through college, led groundbreaking reforms in government even as a young man, and worked tirelessly on a North Dakota cattle ranch.
At Harvard, his peers mocked him for his high-pitched voice, but were wowed by his unending energy. "He was a figure of incessant activitiy (as he himself said), of constant talk, constant hurry, a bee in a bottle."
He was elected New York's youngest state legislator ever (to that time) at age 23, voters drawn to the tireless candidate who seemed committed to working for the average person, "In a political fight, he fought tooth and claw."
McCullough carefully debunks some myths from Teddy's early years (the book covers his life up to age 28) while also detailing some astonishing truths.If only McCullough had stuck to the stories of Theordores Junior and Senior. Perhaps feeling a historian's duty to be thorough, McCullough also details the lives of Teddy's siblings and other Roosevelt relatives, but their lives are largely dull — a fact the author acknowledges. Prior to Teddy, McCullough explains, "One searches the Roosevelt family history in vain for a sign of daring or spontaneity or a sense of humor."
"Mornings on Horseback" is one of McCullough's earlier books, his fourth of 13, and while the quality of research is unquestioned, he too often buries the reader in trivial and unimportant details.
In describing the 1884 Republican convention, McCullough pointlessly informs us that, "The Pennsylvanians wore brilliant blue neckties and cream-colored plug hats and matching cream-colored silk handkerchiefs in their coat pockets, a spray of lily of the valley on the lapel."
Describing two mansions owned by other families, McCullough notes that one faced east and the other south, even though this doesn't matter in the least.
He offers tedious listings of social occasions: "There was a 'jolly little dinner' at the Iselins', a 'very pleasant little party' at Aunt Annie's, dinners at the Leavitts', the Griswolds', the Weekeses', the Keans', the Morans; the Tuckermans' ..." and on and on.
McCullough seems unable to resist a good digression, wandering off to tell us stories with only peripheral connection to Roosevelts. He goes into excessive details about the Civil War commerce raider ship Alabama, the inner machinations of the 1876 Republican convention, and a North Dakota cattle farmer named Marquis de Mores. (These stories are not without merit; they just don't fit in this book.)
The bottom line is that is that if you want to get the most out of "Mornings on Horseback" you will need to skim and skip parts. (To be fair, even McCullough's book "1776," which I liked, contains a unneeded first chapter.) Stick as much as you can to the stories of Theodore Roosevelt, Junior and Senior, and you'll enjoy the book more.
