The Wilderness Warrior - by Douglas Brinkley (Paperback)

About the Book

Award-winning historian Brinkley examines the life and achievements of America's Naturalist President. The author argues that it was Theodore Roosevelt--by setting aside 230 million acres of Wild America for posterity--who turned conservationism into a universal endeavor.

Book Synopsis

From New York Times bestselling historian Douglas Brinkley comes a sweeping historical narrative and eye-opening look at the pioneering environmental policies of President Theodore Roosevelt, avid bird-watcher, naturalist, and the founding father of America's conservation movement.

In this groundbreaking epic biography, Douglas Brinkley draws on never-before-published materials to examine the life and achievements of our "naturalist president." By setting aside more than 230 million acres of wild America for posterity between 1901 and 1909, Theodore Roosevelt made conservation a universal endeavor. This crusade for the American wilderness was perhaps the greatest U.S. presidential initiative between the Civil War and World War I. Roosevelt's most important legacies led to the creation of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and passage of the Antiquities Act in 1906. His executive orders saved such treasures as Devils Tower, the Grand Canyon, and the Petrified Forest.

From the Back Cover

One of the Best Books of the Year

The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Kansas City Star, The Chicago Tribune, and The St. Louis Post-Dispatch

In this monumental biography, acclaimed historian Douglas Brinkley examines the life and achievements of Theodore Roosevelt, our "naturalist president," and his tireless crusade for the American wilderness--a legacy now more important than ever.

Review Quotes

"Dramatic and entertaining. . . . A grand book. . . . Brinkley is a talented chronicler of the heroic deeds of bands of brothers. . . . This compelling and impressively well-researched book is by far the best and most detailed story of the Roosevelt administration's fight for conservation." - Kathleen Dalton, The Boston Globe
"A stupendous new work. . . . Brinkley, one of America's most energetic and engaging historians, uses Theodore Roosevelt's surpassing love of animals and the outdoor life as the organizing force in The Wilderness Warrior. This is biography at its absolute finest: learned and thorough, to be sure, but also lively and surprising and adventurous--much like the man whose life it so bewitchingly chronicles. . . . With so many biographers having lined up to take a crack at Roosevelt, it's astonishing that The Wilderness Warrior is as fresh as a sunrise. . . . Thanks to Roosevelt, we have national game preserves and national forests. And thanks to Brinkley, we have this brilliant, exhilarating portrait of a president and his unquenchable passion for the natural world." - The Chicago Tribune
"A masterful look at TR as environmental crusader and ultimate outdoorsman. . . . An engrossing, compellingly written book. . . . Roosevelt is the very man we need today as the number of species in America continues to decline. . . . Brinkley's Roosevelt is P.T. Barnum, Walt Whitman, and Captain Ahab all rolled into one." - The Los Angeles Times
"Monumental. . . . Roosevelt's energy and enthusiasm crackle off the pages." - The Richmond Times-Dispatch
"What an absolutely perfect match between subject and writer. This is a major contribution to our understanding not only of Roosevelt but of the historic movement to save our wilderness." - Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals
"Douglas Brinkley has brought us an important, deeply researched, compellingly readable and inspiring story. Exactly a century after his Presidency, there could not be a better time to revisit and celebrate T.R.'s unfinished environmental legacy." - Michael Beschloss, author of Presidential Courage
"In The Wilderness Warrior, Douglas Brinkley brings into relief the biography, cultural influences, and political record of the most effective conservationist in history. . . . Like the Grand Canyon that as president he more or less rescued from development and mining interests in one fell swoop, Roosevelt is one of those American treasures that can make you wonder how you missed getting around to for so long. . . .Interesting and thorough. . . . Brinkley is a veteran author on 20th century Americana." - The San Francisco Chronicle
"An excellent book. A work that surely will rank as the most comprehensive and thoughtful study of Roosevelt's endless love affair with nature. . . . Brinkley is at his best when documenting how Roosevelt translated his naturalism into concrete federal acts that protected vast regions of the United States from mining, timber, telegraph, and railroad interests. The depth of Brinkley's research allows him to demonstrate how Roosevelt, like a chess master, finessed ideas through Congress." - The Austin American-Statesman
"It is a testament to the unparalleled hugeness of his life that a nearly thousand-page biography of Theodore Roosevelt is still capable of breaking new ground. . . . Eschewing the familiar biographical notes (the Panama Canal rates barely a passing mention), Brinkley shows us how T.R.'s youthful obsession with birds, hunting and Darwinian science joined forces with his unique form of masculine patriotism to result in a very "rare instance of constructive hyper-Americanism.'" - Time
"Brinkley gives us the most insightful account yet of Roosevelt's evolution from sickly, bird-nest-collecting schoolboy to the biggest, baddest conservationist of the 20th century. . . . Readers will close this book with a better appreciation for Roosevelt's forward-thinking genius--and, just as satisfying, the history of the American conservationism movement in its formative years." - Outside magazine
"Although Roosevelt's presidency ended 100 years ago, Mr. Brinkley finds ways to make his presidential portrait a timely one. . . . The Wilderness Warrior describes a vigorously hands-on president, eager to fight more than one battle at a time. . . . Brinkley's fervent enthusiasm for his material eventually prevails. . . . He conveys the great vigor with which Roosevelt approached his conservation mission." - Janet Maslin, The New York Times
"To understand America, you need to appreciate Teddy Roosevelt. Doug Brinkley brilliantly uses the lens of Roosevelt's love of nature to show why he is so influential, fascinating, and relevant to our own times. This wonderful book is as vibrant as he was." - Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein
"No president has been a greater champion of our natural world--especially its wildlife--than Theodore Roosevelt. Now that extraordinary force of nature has his own champion in Douglas Brinkley's stirring account of the man who turned our attention to conservation and the many glories of our American landscape." - Ken Burns, co-author of The War
"Our greatest conservation president, Roosevelt lived much of his life in, around, and for nature--a fact that biographers have tended to ignore until Brinkley stepped forth. This new portrait of TR is one of the best we have. It is a grand portrait of a man and his era, rich in detail and infectious in enthusiasm." - Donald Worster, author of A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir
"What an absolutely perfect match between subject and writer. Douglas Brinkley brings to this magnificent story of Theodore Roosevelt's crusade on behalf of America's national parks the same qualities that made TR so fascinating a figure--an astonishing range of knowledge, a superb narrative skill, a wonderfully vivid writing style and an inexhaustible energy. This is a major contribution to our understanding not only of Roosevelt but of the historic movement to save our wilderness." - Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals
"Douglas Brinkley has brought us an important, deeply researched, compellingly readable and inspiring story--how Theodore Roosevelt's poignant childhood love of nature grew into a fierce Presidential commitment to preserve our national environment. No earlier historian and biographer has done such a splendid job of showing how much we all owe to T.R.'s activism as wilderness warrior. Exactly a century after his Presidency, there could not be a better time to revisit and celebrate T.R.'s unfinished environmental legacy." - Michael Beschloss, author of Presidential Courage