Theodore Rex

By: Edmund Morris

Narrated by: Jonathan Marosz

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

Praise for The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

“Magnificent . . . a sweeping narrative of the outward man and a shrewd examination of his character. . . . It is one of those rare works that is both definitive for the period it covers and fascinating to read for sheer entertainment. There should be a queue awaiting the next volume.”
-W. A. Swanberg, The New York Times Book Review

“Theodore Roosevelt, in this meticulously researched and beautifully written biography, has a claim on being the most interesting man ever to be President of this country.”
-Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Spectacles glittering, teeth and temper flashing, high-pitched voice rasping and crackling, Roosevelt surges out of these pages with the force of a physical presence.”
-The Atlantic Monthly

“Morris’s book is beautifully written as well as thoroughly scholarly-clearly a masterpiece of American biography. . . . Hundreds of thousands will soon be reading this book . . . and will look forward, as I do, to Morris’s second volume.”
-Kenneth S. Davis, Worcester Sunday Telegram

Need to edit

There are probably 15-20 sections that repeat sentences or whole paragraphs. Someone should listen to this and edit these errors out of the final product.

Great story not so great narrator

The narrator is perfectly able to lull you to sleep, kinda sad compared to the first audiobook:-(
But the story is so good. I salute to the author

Good History, Lackluster Narrator

Teddy Roosevelt's time in the White house is fascinating, its just too bad they changed narrators between the first and second book. This Narrator speaks in the same monotone, droning style throughout the book. The previous one had energy, especially when quoting Roosevelt. This one just seems like he couldn't be bothered.

I still highly recommend the book, just be prepared for a very un-enthusiastic narrator.

Poor narrator choice

Obviously, this is an epic book. it's just a shame the narrator is so terrible.

Great book

Love the book but the recording was annoying as it repeated sentences or paragraphs to such an extent that it added at least 30 minutes to the overall length.

One of the most influential presidents in history

A very day to day narrative of the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. The way it was told by the speaker has a very old fashioned twang to it that at first was off putting but by the end you wouldn't have it any other way.

The audio does skip back a lot but otherwise a great audio book for learning about TR the man.

Deeeelightful!

I accidentally started this book not knowing it was the second of three parts about T.R.
I'm glad I did however and now I cannot wait to go back and listen to the Morris' first book on him.
Teddy was quite the entertainer and bully but he got things done. My favorite part of the book was the short story of his ten year-old son Quinten who was being a little rascal and how T.R. came barreling down the White House lawn and had a stand off. The exchange of vocabulary that ensued was hysterical.
Great book, great stories and great narrator!

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]