• The Wilderness Warrior

  • Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America
  • By: Douglas Brinkley
  • Narrated by: Dennis Holland
  • Length: 40 hrs and 27 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (277 ratings)

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The Wilderness Warrior  By  cover art

The Wilderness Warrior

By: Douglas Brinkley
Narrated by: Dennis Holland
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Publisher's summary

In this groundbreaking epic biography, Douglas Brinkley draws on never-before-published materials to examine the life and achievements of our "naturalist president."

By setting aside more than 230 million acres of wild America for posterity between 1901 and 1909, Theodore Roosevelt made conservation a universal endeavor. This crusade for the American wilderness was perhaps the greatest U.S. presidential initiative between the Civil War and World War I. Roosevelt's most important legacies led to the creation of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and passage of the Antiquities Act in 1906. His executive orders saved such treasures as Devils Tower, the Grand Canyon, and the Petrified Forest.

Tracing the role that nature played in Roosevelt's storied career, Brinkley brilliantly analyzes the influence that the works of John James Audubon and Charles Darwin had on the young man who would become our 26th president. With descriptive flair, the author illuminates Roosevelt's bird watching in the Adirondacks, wildlife obsession in Yellowstone, hikes in the Blue Ridge Mountains, ranching in the Dakota Territory, hunting in the Big Horn Mountains, and outdoor romps through Idaho and Wyoming. He also profiles Roosevelt's incredible circle of naturalist friends, including the Catskills poet John Burroughs, Boone and Crockett Club cofounder George Bird Grinnell, forestry zealot Gifford Pinchot, buffalo breeder William Hornaday, Sierra Club founder John Muir, U.S. Biological Survey wizard C. Hart Merriam, Oregon Audubon Society founder William L. Finley, and pelican protector Paul Kroegel, among many others. He brings to life hilarious anecdotes of wild-pig hunting in Texas and badger saving in Kansas, wolf catching in Oklahoma and grouse flushing in Iowa. Even the story of the teddy bear gets its definitive treatment.

Destined to become a classic, this extraordinary and timeless biography offers a penetrating and colorful look at Roosevelt's naturalist achie...

©2009 Douglas Brinkley (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about The Wilderness Warrior

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

I DID keep listening

This must be a good book, since in spite of its substantive as well as annoying flaws, I finished it. The errors of fact (wrong birth date for Lincoln, for example) are well documented in other reviews. Where the print version apparently suffers from typos, the audible version suffers from mispronounciations. Canyon de CheLLY NOT! It's Canyon de Shay. Mt. DESSERT Island, not Mt. Desert. This lack of fact-checking and simple attention to detail certainly causes concern about the validity of the rest of the book. What about errors the reader/listener doesn't recognize? Too bad that the scholarship and/or editing casts doubt on the, well, validity, of the book. That being said, I did finish it.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Boring

I thought this would be a comprehensive history of TR as well as his environmental activities. It is not. Not only is it poorly organized, it is incredibly boring. I gave up after a few chapters.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

dull and wordy

Bought it because of national parks and TR.
Felt like an overlong Publish or Perish, over 40 hours, or nearly 1000 pages, and drily academic in tone. Not well done, I was extremely disappointed.
The narrator was adequate.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A must read for all who appreciate nature

This gives a thorough history of Theodore Roosevelt, his love for nature, and his efforts to preserve it in National Monuments and National Parks. It sometimes goes into too much detail about other characters in the fight for conservation, but it all fits together. I feel like I personally know Theodore Roosevelt after listening to this Book. It is long, but worth every word.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Finely written, detailed history....

As a purchaser of many other audio books on Teddy Roosevelt - I seem to enjoy those that really present a more up close and personal side of this amazing character, rather than more or less a straight-forward relaying of the facts...This book, while very detailed and well written, falls more into this latter category. Through an extensive array of vignettes, the contribution to wildlife and environmental preservation on behalf of Teddy Roosevelt comes to life. The picture it paints is one of overwhelming dedication to environmental stewardship. A fine, detailed account of the many contributions of Roosevelt, the relationships he had with notable early environmentalists and many other influential folk who shaped our modern day park and forestry systems.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

3 Stars

My Rating Scale
5 Stars
Exceptional. This is the very best in writing and narration. I will listen to this book more than once and eagerly recommend it to family and friends. This book left me wanting more from the same author and narrator.
4 Stars
Very Good. I found it entertaining and engaging. It's worth the Audible membership price I paid. Based on this book I would purchase others from the same author.
3 Stars
This book has merit but some combination of elements (writing style, narration or length) made finishing it a challenge for me.
2 Stars
I found this book to be either poorly written or narrated. I couldn't finish it.
1 Star
The audio quality or narration is so poor the content of this book couldn't be understood.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

I have every single teddy Roosevelt audible book, THIS IS THE WORST

Very liberal take on teddy often distorting or misleading. Not recommend especially for young minds

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Incredible book that deserves better narration

The only thing keeping this book from being 5 Stars is the narration. It was very slow and monotone, but we much improved when played at 1.35x speed.

The book itself was very informative and focused. I learned A LOT. Not just about Roosevelt, but the National Parks, the end of the western frontier, and the conservationist movement of the early 20th Century.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Roosevelt, the Wild West, the Natural World, or Turn-of-the-century America.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Inspirational

A fascinating perspective on TR. Meticulously researched and presented. This book will make you want to go tour the National Parks.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Great history of our land preservation

Great insight into TR's passion and visionary actions to protect our natural resources. A little too much detail on all the preservation actions for my liking though. Could have been half this length.

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1 person found this helpful