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Mornings on Horseback  By  cover art

Mornings on Horseback

By: David McCullough
Narrated by: Nelson Runger
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Publisher's summary

From the number-one New York Times best-selling author of John Adams

Winner of the 1982 National Book Award for Biography, Mornings on Horseback is the brilliant biography of the young Theodore Roosevelt. Hailed as a masterpiece by Newsday, it is the story of a remarkable little boy - seriously handicapped by recurrent and nearly fatal attacks of asthma - and his struggle to manhood.

His father - the first Theodore Roosevelt, "Greatheart" - is a figure of unbounded energy, enormously attractive and selfless, a god in the eyes of his small, frail namesake. His mother - Mittie Bulloch Roosevelt - is a Southerner and celebrated beauty.

Mornings on Horseback spans 17 years, from 1869, when little "Teedie" is 10, to 1886, when he returns from the West a "real life cowboy" to pick up the pieces of a shattered life and begin anew, a grown man, whole in body and spirit.

This is a tale about family love and family loyalty... about courtship, childbirth and death, fathers and sons... about gutter politics and the tumultuous Republican Convention of 1884... about grizzly bears, grief and courage, and "blessed" mornings on horseback at Oyster Bay or beneath the limitless skies of the Badlands.

©2007 David McCullough (P)2011 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

  • National Book Award , Biography, 1982

"We have no better social historian." ( The New York Times)

What listeners say about Mornings on Horseback

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

Did not like this one

I am in the process of listening all of McCullough's titles. Now I only have Truman left, and I am wondering if I want to take a chance.
This book seemed so incomplete , and left me wanting. The author is usually so detailed that you feel you know every detail possible on the biography . It seems like that McCullough just got board with his subject, and skipped two thirds of Roosevelt's important achievements . I don't know what happened or why this is so incomplete.

I was aware that the description of the book said it covered the years between 1869 to 1886, and I am hoping that McCullough does a follow up bio of the rest of the Roosevelt life. I will purchase the second volume if it ever comes out, but will feel a bit ill used by needing to purchase the second volume.

Another major complaint in this book is the reader (Nelson Runger), reads soooooooo slowly that I listened at 1.5 speed.

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111 people found this helpful

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

Disappointing

I love David McCullough, but the narrator here read the book with a very sarcastic attitude toward the charactors which interfered with the story. McCullough also disapointed by claiming that all asthma is pscho-psomatic, and did not acknowledge current medical research that recognizes asthma is an auto-immune disease. It puts all the research for the book in question to have an entire chapter on Roosevelt's life long battle with this disease treated as a psychological disorder, rather than the serious physical challenge it presented for him. Another disappointment was the way this very long narrative ends - almost mid-sentence, and certainly mid-thought. As if McCullough ran out of notes, and couldn't be bothered to bring the book to a conclusion.

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62 people found this helpful

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

On The Back Burner

"Morning on Horseback" is my last book from David McCullough because I am finally caught up with his discography. It is painful for me to write this review of Roosevelt because I have enjoy McCullough's work thus so far. Other reviewers blames the poor reading from Nelson Runger, but he has narrated so many of David's books that I have become custom to his style of narrating. I didn't find Nelson's voice to be slow or irritating. His performance of telling Roosevelt's life was spot on with the pace of the book.

After reading all of McCullough's works from Harry Truman to the Americans in Paris, I have the up most respect for him, but this story about Roosevelt is not really compelling to get into. It seems like his life was pretty routine at the time and didn't really have any hardship while he was growing up, other than his Asthma.

Since Roosevelt had a privileged life, it felt like the author was grasping any kind of information that he could find. I'm surprised that Mr. McCullough didn't explain the paint in Roosevelt's room. It was that boring to me that I almost gave up.

Needless to say, I am sad that I don't have anything else to listen to from this great historian. I hope that they will record more of his books on audio, but if you happened to be a fan of this author, either read Morning on Horseback on the back burner or read it first because the rest of his titles are fantastic.

If I have known about his material in school, I would had become a history major instead.

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60 people found this helpful

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

Tedious

What would have made Mornings on Horseback better?

A focus on Roosevelt’s more interesting exploits. Well over an hour of this 19 hour tome is dedicated to every nuance of asthma. We get a detailed account of what asthma suffers experience along with a collection of historical & contemporary opinions on its causes. I get it was an important aspect of his character development but please... The book also suffered from horrible narration. Highly recommend you double the speed as it will make the narration cadence appear normal. If nothing else it cuts the pain in half. When they get to asthma turn it up to 3x.

Has Mornings on Horseback turned you off from other books in this genre?

No I really enjoy historical biographies.

Would you be willing to try another one of Nelson Runger’s performances?

Not if I can help it. Unfortunately he seems to narrate many of the books I gravitate to.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It was good to get an inside look at one of America's legendary families. Just wished the author spent more time on the entree and less time on the appetizer

Any additional comments?

I was deeply disapointed in this book. I have enjoyed many of McCulloughs other works; John Adams, 1776 but can't recommend this one. He has managed to make one of our more influential and dynamic presidents a complete bore. Need to think long and hard about that Runger narrated 54 hour Truman book on my wish list...

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59 people found this helpful

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

The performance was awful - story just okay

I was expecting a better story considering this was on best-selling book lists. While the story had some interesting parts, I may have enjoyed the book better if it had been abridged - the parts where the book delves deep into what asthma is and the psychology behind it was BORING - made worse by the very flat performance of the narrator. There were also other parts of the book, like Harvard history - when the school color officially became crimson rather than magenta - that made seemed unneccassary. At first, I had a hard time getting into the book because the performance was so monotone and you could actually hear when the narrator was taking deep breaths from his nose. It was a great book to fall asleep to. Also, the book changed my opinion about Theodore Roosvelt - I don't think I like him much after listening to this book.

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54 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
  • MP
  • 12-12-16

I almost fell asleep driving

I have heard good things, but goodness. I couldn't get past the first two hours. I bought this for a road trip and had to turn it off because I almost fell asleep at the wheel. Terribly boring narrator, paired with a less than engaging book isn't a good combination.

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53 people found this helpful

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

boreing

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Slow,very drawn out,no action

Has Mornings on Horseback turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Nelson Runger?

Really cant blam him,story has no action

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointments

Any additional comments?

Title leads you to belive this ia a action book

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51 people found this helpful

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

Tedious and boring at times.

I have enjoyed David McCullough's works many times before, but this one disappointed for some reason. Unusually tedious, and at times boring. I couldn't wait to be done.

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50 people found this helpful

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

Drags on and on

What would have made Mornings on Horseback better?

Maybe I should have got the abridge version. From the very start there are minute and useless details given. I got about 3 hours into and it was still talking about Roosevelt's childhood. I even skipped ahead several hours trying to get to his adult life and it was still droaning on and on about useless details.

Any additional comments?

Can I get a refund?

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

Should have researched before reading....

I did learn a great deal about TR, but did not realize that the book did not discuss his presidency. This was a major disappointment, which I should have investigated in advance.
I also found the discussion of TR's asthma attacks and the lengthy dwelling of the author on his psychological theories concerning these overdone.
While I do not regret listening to this title, it does not compare to the same author's biography of Truman.

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49 people found this helpful