Selected Speeches and Writings of Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) was America's most published president with an incredible output of writing including forty books, over a thousand articles, and countless speeches and letters.
 
Collected here in one volume are examples of Roosevelt’s voluminous writings over a dazzling array of topics. Organized by general categories, readers can sample writings on subjects as varied as the environment, the danger of professional sports; the famous charge of San Juan Hill, and Roosevelt’s passion for literary criticism. From addresses and presidential messages on public policy and national ideals, to biography, to travel writing, to ecological concerns, to writings on hunting, to international politics and history, Roosevelt’s talents and achievements as a writer went far beyond what we now expect of our public leaders.
 
Roosevelt’s legacy as one of the first progressive American politicians, his concerns about environmentalism, his internationalism, and his unflinching belief in the American character and destiny uncannily speak to the issues of our own day and can be found in the pages of this representative and judicious anthology of his work.

Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858, and became the twenty-sixth president of the United States. He was a naturalist, writer, historian, and soldier. He died in 1919.

Gordon Hutner, editor, is professor of English at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He founded in 1989 and is the editor of the journal American Literary History, and is considered “one of the most influential editors of his generation.” He is the author of What America Read: Taste, Class, and the Novel, 1920–1960. He also edited the volume Immigrant Voices: Twenty-Four Narratives on Becoming an American and American Literature, American Culture.

Introduction:
Theodore Roosevelt: The Man in the Arena as Man of Letters

CULTURE AND SOCIETY
The American Boy
The Strenuous Life
“Professionalism” in Sports
At the Dedication Ceremonies of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis
National Unity versus Class Cleavage
The Parasite Woman; the Only Indispensable Citizen
The American Negro and the War

NATIONAL POLITICS
The Control of Corporations
“The Colonial Policy of the United States” from African and European Addresses
The New Nationalism
National Preparedness—Military—Industrial—Social
League of Nations

CAMPAIGNS AND CONTROVERSIES
The Enforcement of the Law
At Laying of Cornerstone of Gateway to Yellowstone National Park, Gardiner, Montana
Natural Resources—Their Wise Use or Their Waste
How I Became a Progressive
The Case Against the Reactionaries
The Leader and the Cause

OBSERVATIONS AND TRAVEL
Hunting the Grisly
“A Chilean Rondeo” from A Book-Lover’s Holiday in the Open

BIOGRAPHY
“The Struggle with the Nullifi ers” from Thomas Hart Benton
“Minister to France” from Gouverneur Morris

HISTORY
“Champlain” from The Naval War of 1812
“The Spread of the English-Speaking Peoples” from The Winning of the West
“The Cavalry at Santiago” (The Battle of San Juan Hill) from The Rough Riders

ARTS AND LETTERS
History as Literature
An Introduction to American Literature
Nationalism in Literature and Art

Notes
Bibliography
Index