Theodore Roosevelt was probably America's closest approximation to a man of letters who was also a man of affairs. Roosevelt possessed an extraordinarily strong intellect coupled with the energies and aggressiveness of a Renaissance prince. Such a combination in American public life is rare and a little alarming. It was perhaps well for the republic that the twenty-sixth president was a moral man and a confirmed republican.

A prolific author, he wrote on such diverse topics as the bird life of the Adirondacks, ranching in Dakota Territory, hunting big game on two continents, exploring in South America, the Spanish-American War, the Progressive movement, military preparedness, his own life, and, incidentally, American and English history. He also reviewed fiction and nonfiction for such magazines as the Atlantic Monthly,Scribner's, and the Outlook and carried on a voluminous correspondence with dozens of friends, admirers, scholars, politicians, and with his own...