No, the reason we're celebrating two great presidents this year is because the two books about them are well-written, moving, and alive. Even though, as Morris writes, Roosevelt 'felt at home with conservatives' and 'owed his political advancement' to them, he is too restless, bearish, and reform-minded to entomb with nostalgia. Roosevelt doesn't seem suited for nostalgia, even given the coincidence that Theodore Rex, which opens with young President Roosevelt assuming the presidency because a terrorist assassinated his predecessor, is being published when the nation is particularly mindful about terrorism.

John Adams started flying off shelves long before September 11 and, in any event, McCullough, who also wrote Truman, has a gift for elegantly prodding the nation into revery over his biographical subjects, whenever he publishes.

But the little man who lives on my left shoulder and always tells me who's not wearing underwear doesn't think that's the reason. That, at least, is how many observers explain the popularity this year of David McCullough's John Adams and Theodore Rex (Random House, $35), Edmund Morris' new second installment in his planned three-volume study of Theodore Roosevelt. Edmund Morris in Austin last week (Photo By John Anderson)ĭuring a national crisis, we like to gather 'round and listen to stories about our noble forefathers.

Theodore rex book review