The Roosevelts: An American Saga
by Peter Collier, David Horowitz
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The story of the Roosevelts is usually seen as a tale of two presidents - Theodore and Franklin - who were distant cousins from distinct worlds, separated by time and politics. And of two families - the Oyster Bay and Hyde Park branches - that had little to do with each other. Now comes an explosive new portrait, The Roosevelts: An American Saga, which offers a completely unique view of America's longest lasting and most powerful dynasty. The Roosevelts were one family, an exclusive elite show more who began their history intimately related by bonds of love and ambition. In this brilliant biography, we see for the first time how the family divided into two branches and began an epic battle for the family legacy. We see for the first time how the ideals of two presidents were passed on to members of later generations, ennobling some and crushing others. The Roosevelts is a rare look at what brought this exceptional group of people together and what drove them apart. In this riveting book we see Teddy, the flamboyant politician and Rough Rider, who was also a "Papa Bear," passing on an ethos of sacrifice and achievement to his "cubs." There is Theodore Jr., the "crown prince," handpicked by his father to carry on the traditions of Oyster Bay but unable to complete the mission. And Alice, Teddy's acid-tongued and fiercely loyal daughter, whose antics became the talk of Washington and who finally became a caricature, raving against her cousin's New Deal and trying desperately to preserve her father's legacy. There's also Eleanor, daughter of Teddy's tragic brother, Elliott, who translated the unhappiness of her marriage to FDR into political activism, eventually becoming First Lady of the World. And finally there is Franklin, always underestimated by Teddy's family, who made an alliance with Eleanor to become the nemesis of the Oyster Bay Roosevelts and, in the web of ironies that bind this family together, a truer heir to Teddy than any of his own children. Filled with drama and anecdote, presenting familiar characters in a penetrating new light, The Roosevelts is a soaring tale of triumph over heartbreak and frailty. But it is also a daunting story of the vanity of human wishes. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
I was inspired by a visit to the Museum of Natural History in NYC to learn more about the Roosevelts and chose this book to get a sense of the family rather than one of its stronger individuals. i was not disappointed. I found it fascinating - Collier does an amazing job of hitting on events from the turn of the 20th century through the 1970s, giving the family's trajectories and falls a sense of scope. The Roosevelts were split between the Hyde Park and Oyster Bay branches and as years went on, many of them had very unhappy personal lives, but what lives. Very interesting.
A wonderfully written book about the family
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Author Information
24+ Works 2,800 Members
Peter Collier is an author who often collaborated on his boooks with David Horowitz. Together they co-wrote books about dynasty families like: The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty (1976), The Kennedys: An American Drama (1984) and The Fords: An American Epic (1987), and in 1994 Collier published The Roosevelts: An American Saga, with Horowitz show more contributing. In addition, Collier wrote a novel, Down River (1979); a children's book, The King's Giraffe (with his wife, 1996); and books honoring military figures like Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty (2003). During the 1960s and '70s, Collier and Horowitz worked together on the New Left journal Ramparts, but "made a 180-degree turn and began writing books and articles from the conservative side of the spectrum. Their 1989 book, Destructive Generation: Second Thoughts About the Sixties, attacked what they perceived to be the nostalgia that had grown up around that decade. In 1998, Collier founded Encounter Books, which has published a range of authors, many of them conservative. Peter Collier passed away on November 1, 2019 from leukemia. He was 80 years old. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
85+ Works 4,832 Members
David Horowitz is the author of numerous books, including the New York Times bestseller Unholy Alliance, as well as The Professors, and his celebrated autobiography Radical Son. He is president of the David Horowitz Freedom Center and founder of the online news magazine FrontPageMag.com.
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1994
- People/Characters
- Eleanor Roosevelt; Franklin Delano Roosevelt; Alice Roosevelt; Anna Roosevelt Cowles; Theodore Roosevelt; Nicholas Longworth
- Epigraph
- I don't care for the Henry James kind of ghosts. I want real sepulchral ghosts, the kind that knock you over and eat fire; ghosts which are ghosts and none of your weak shallow apparitions.
--Theodore Roosevelt - Dedication
- To my son Nicholas Tyrie Collier, with love and admiration
- First words
- Prologue: It was after the big parade had ended and the spectators, many of them still carrying the little Irish flags they had spent the morning waving at the line of march, had begun to disperse throughout the city, when a... (show all)nother crowd began to form outside the stately townhouse on East 76th Street where a wedding was about to take place.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)As one of the few non-Roosevelts present at the event said, "It was remarkable. The Roosevelts together again and everyone so happy. Just like it must have been at get-togethers a hundred years ago before all the trouble. And smiling! You wouldn't believe it. All those Roosevelt teeth!"
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, History, Biography & Memoir, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 929.7 — History & geography Biographies, Genealogy, Healdry Genealogy, Flags, Heraldry, Civil Records Peerage, precedence, titles of honor; Royal houses
- LCC
- E747 .C66 — History of the United States United States Twentieth century General Biography
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 492
- Popularity
- 61,349
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (4.05)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook
- ISBNs
- 9
- ASINs
- 6
