Theodore Rex

By: Edmund Morris

Narrated by: Jonathan Marosz

Length: 25 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A shining portrait of a presciently modern political genius maneuvering in a gilded age of wealth, optimism, excess and American global ascension.”—San Francisco Chronicle

WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHY • “[Theodore Rex] is one of the great histories of the American presidency, worthy of being on a shelf alongside Henry Adams’s volumes on Jefferson and Madison.”—Times Literary Supplement

Theodore Rex is the story—never fully told before—of Theodore Roosevelt’s two world-changing terms as President of the United States. A hundred years before the catastrophe of September 11, 2001, “TR” succeeded to power in the aftermath of an act of terrorism. Youngest of all our chief executives, he rallied a stricken nation with his superhuman energy, charm, and political skills. He proceeded to combat the problems of race and labor relations and trust control while making the Panama Canal possible and winning the Nobel Peace Prize. But his most historic achievement remains his creation of a national conservation policy, and his monument millions of acres of protected parks and forest.

Theodore Rex ends with TR leaving office, still only fifty years old, his future reputation secure as one of our greatest presidents.

©2001 Edmund Morris (P)2002 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Impeccably researched and beautifully composed, a dazzling portrait of the man....A book that is every bit as complex, engaging, and invigorating as the vibrant president it depicts." (Publishers Weekly)

Loved the story

Before this book, I listened to books on WW2, and Korea.
this book gave me the feeling that the parts regarding the Japanese Russo war negotiations, and reflections were after the fact.
President Theodore Roosevelt had a very keen insight on world leaders and how to handle them.
his diverse childhood and adulthood experiences carried him far, while he was the leader of this great country.
Too bad that he couldn't be used as a blueprint for future POTUS'S.

Good Book However

Audible version repeats sentences on occasion. This was a good story none the less. I recommend

needs to be redone

As others have noted, the reading is very odd. It's as if only question marks and commas exist at the end of sentences. A point is never concluded, only queried or held in suspense. After a few hours, the listener, resigned, gets used to this; and as also noted, the narrator has a fine voice. What is really objectionable--and others reviewers have made this point as well--are the production values on this release. Sometimes the volume goes from normal to quite loud or soft. This lasted for only about half an hour, so was tolerable. But the way the producer of this product allowed sections to be repeated is simply unacceptable. Sometimes only a sentence or two would be repeated. But at other times whole paragraphs and more than paragraphs would be reread, taking up our time and attention and patience. Who was responsible for this? The company that made the recording? Audible itself? Whoever it was needs to go back and remaster the product. Then and only then will this second volume of Morris's brilliant biography of this great and fascinating man get the telling it deserves.
[Leslie Epstein]

Great!

Loved the book. took me forever to get through, but the only point that was weaker than the previous was the change in narrator.

Amazing book!

This is the second one I listened to in the last 4 months and I already can’t wait to get started on the 3rd and final book. Great writing and such a good trilogy on Teddy Roosevelt!

Great book with minor glitches

Like many reviewers have said, there is regular repetition of the audio which does get annoying at times. However it does not take away from the excellence of the writing and narration. The narration is bit more dry than Deakins' in the first book, but still clear and well done. Don't go for the abridged.

9/10 Fantastic book but subpar production of the reading

Edmund Morris wrote a second fantastic book about Roosevelt! This book is more cluttered with politics and procedure than the first but this did encompass his entire presidency. That’s not to say that is a bad thing. To the casual listener you’ll likely zone out but to those who are passionate about history and enjoy the detail this book is a 10/10. The only issue with this book is the performance of the reading. None of the chapters align with the tracks and the reading will repeat itself every so often for about a sentence or two.

Poor performance

If you're going through the audiobook trilogy like me you will be disappointed to hear the fantastic narrator of the first book does not read this book. instead you get a narrator who attempts no different accents, sounds like he is asking a question at the end of each sentence, and sounds wrong for a host of other reasons I can't quite put a finger on. But the trilogy is too highly regarded to abandon simply because of the narrator, so I tried my best to ignore his delivery, and instead focus on the content. The good news is that the old narrator is back for book three.

Great book, horrible audio

Wonderful book. Audio editing is horrible, someone needs to actually listen to this book and reedit.

New narration needed

After listening to Mark Deakins’ excellent performance on The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Jonathan Marosz’s reading here on Theodore Rex is a shock to the system. I’m not sure I’ll be able to tolerate 25 hours of this. Given the universal criticism, why has this book not been re-recorded with a different narrator?