Very interesting book, especially regarding Teddy Roosevelt’s childhood.

I checked this out to listen to in the car on a whim. There was really nothing else at the library that I even remotely wanted to try out. I really had no interest in Teddy Roosevelt and only checked it out because I have liked the other books that I have read by McCullough.

Well let me say that McCollough did not disappoint. I was very quickly drawn into his depiction of New York high society in the post Civil War era. I was enthralled as I heard about Theodore Roosevelt Senior and his wife taking their four children on trips across Europe and up the Nile. I really enjoyed hearing about the evolution of young Teddy Roosevelt from a sickly, asthmatic boy, to a strapping young man, to a rugged outdoorsman. The stories about Roosevelt's "Badlands" years were very fun to listen to. I was surprised to be so touched by the telling of Roosevelt senior's early death.

I think McCollough's style of history is most readliy captured by the very last few sentences in the book... he shows you what kind of man he thinks that Roosevelt was with just the story of a feather.

McCollough has so much compassion in his writing. For every one of the historical figures, he manages to bring out that in them that was best to remember, without neglecting to touch on their faults. The result is that, although you are well aware that the person you are reading about was less than perfect, you respect them even more than you ever intended.

With the tendency towards revisionist history that can sometimes leave you wondering how the world ever got as far as it did with so many bad fellows in charge, it is good to read a book that reminds you that great men and women have lived well and changed the world for the better.

The book does not cover in detail the whole life of Theodore Roosevelt, but rather it seems to be a study of how a few decent (very rich) young men and women made their way in the world. How many of them found their way to greatness, and how others did not. He touches in a very glancing way on how these men and women were the antecedents of people like Eleanor Roosevelt and FDR.

So this book covers the first 30-ish years of Roosevelt's life, which is basically the unknown years of his rather impressive life. He accomplished so much as president and in the military, but before then he was a moderately successful politician, a young widower, a failed ranchman, an author, and a world traveler. I got the distinct impression that McCullough may have studied absolutely everything to write this book, because there was so much detail! It wasn't necessarily my favorite topic, but I sensed that McCullough was fascinated with the era and familial background of the Roosevelt family more so than the man himself. That background sort of came to the fore in this book and gave me a glimpse of what was indeed a "vanished way of life". Very interesting subject material.

Mornings on Horseback is the first book I've read by renowned historian David McCullough (hopefully the first of several more). Meticulously researched and crammed with information and fascinating anecdotes, Mornings on Horseback serves as a kind of origin story of Theodore Roosevelt. McCullough answers the question of how the frail, asthmatic, awkward child called "Teedie" became "T.R.", as he is known in the popular American consciousness.

While I certainly enjoyed reading Mornings on Horseback, it is in many ways a very different book from what I was expecting. The first several chapters are as much about T.R.'s parents, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. and Martha "Mittie" Bulloch Roosevelt as they are about T.R. himself. An entire chapter is devoted to a discussion of little Teedie's battle with asthma. While T.R.'s family history and childhood health struggles provide important insight and context for how he was later to become the character in history we all know, I found myself somewhat disinterested in these sections. The chapters concerning Theodore's early forays into politics in the New York State Assembly and at the 1884 Republican National Convention really bogged down the narrative for me.

Perhaps my greatest disappointment with Mornings on Horseback is that the years of T.R.'s life that I was most interested in reading more about, his time as a rancher in the Bad Lands of the Dakota Territory, comprise very little of the book. In fact these years are crammed into the penultimate chapter. I had purchased Mornings on Horseback under the impression that it would largely be about these wilderness years, and was sorely let down when I discovered that was not the case. Of course, viewed objectively, this is the fault of my own expectations, rather than the book itself.

Overall, if you are as fascinated by Theodore Roosevelt as I am, Mornings on Horseback is still a biography that is worth your time. It provides intriguing insight into the life and times of one of the most singular figures in American history.

David McCullough's books are quite simply a joy to read (or listen to in this case). He has the knack for making history and history's characters come alive. This is the story about Teddy Roosevelt up to his late twenties, his siblings, parents, their siblings, and his grandparents. Its an extraordinary story about an extraordinary family. Highly recommended.

I love David McCullough and think he is a national treasure. "Truman" is my favorite biography of all time, I loved Mr McCullough's narration of "The Civil War," and he is from Pittsburgh to boot.

I liked "Mornings on Horseback" a lot. It left me wanting to learn more about Theodore Roosevelt and visit Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the "Bad Lands" of both Dakotas. I now smile when I see video clips of "TR" and strive to be more like him (and his father) in some ways. For me, though, what kept "Mornings on Horseback" from being a masterpiece is that it sometimes got bogged down in minutiae that was largely irrelevant to the story. In some cases, less would have been more.

Still, a great (but not perfect) book by a great author about a great (but not perfect) man.

Wow! What's left to say other than, this book earned the National Book Award for a very good reason. McCullough has a style that turns history into a book that reads like a page-turning novel. Teddy Roosevelt was an extraordinary outlier in American history, n0t only having been born at the right time, to the right family which supported him extensively, to having an unstoppable work ethic, grit, determination, a very high intellect, and a gift for charm. The author weaves a tale with a singular theme of showing what made the man he is, from the influence his father and mother had, to his sisters and brother. The deaths that changed him, his love of the American West, all these are factors in his life. I read this after "The Bully Pulpit" and "River of Doubt," but it might have been good to read before those. The author must have a fleet of research assistants gathering the voluminous amounts of primary-sourced information, because the amount of research needed to write this book was simply over the top. 10 stars if I could.

This book truly transported me on a journey of the life and man TR. The book tends to get heavy on the historical research; yet, it all seems necessary to understand the full background of just who TR was.

This book started out slowly -- not atypical for this type of nonfiction but I honestly had a difficult time sticking to it, BUT, somewhere along the way, it captured my attention.
It is the story of Teddy's childhood, family (including a pretty domineering father figure--not in a bad way, just in a 'big' way), friends, travels, travails, experiences, and life in general during that era.
They were very wealthy, had all the privileges that it brought and this book covers an astounding amount of detail about that life.
One point at the end of the book that I found particularly interesting was the statement that Teddy was probably better prepared to be president than any other president because of his various experience. What a fascinating person he was, according to this interesting account!
I love him because he helped to bring America our beloved National Parks!

I would rate this 3.5 stars but will round up to 4 out of my respect for David McCullough. This should have been in my wheelhouse. McCullough and TR are both personal favorites. However, I struggled getting through it. I think perhaps because I have read so much about TR that there was not enough new here to keep me easily turning pages. I appreciated the focus on other family members more than that parts on TR. However, still a solid read and I am glad I finally got to it.

I want to give this six stars, I found it so entertaining. This was the first biography I’ve ever read which did not take its subject to their grave—did not, in fact, even reach TR’s presidency. Instead, as its subtitle says, it is a story of the child who became the man. It does precisely what I wanted from the other presidential biographies I’ve read to date—told me what influenced the development in the man of his presidential-caliber character, ambition, and strength—and did it in more detail than I’ve yet encountered. My only regret is that I finished the first 40 pages without realizing that the Theodore Roosevelt I was then reading about was not the future president, but his father.

[Re-read for a book group at work:]

David McCullough tells the story of two Theodore Roosevelts: The father whose philanthropy left its mark on New York City, and the son who became a president.

Mornings on Horseback covers the younger TR’s pre-presidential life, through his surprise second marriage and his run for mayor of New York. It barely mentions horses at all until the penultimate chapter, “Glory Days,” covering most of his time in the Bad Lands. His family plays a huge part, as it did in his life. The love between Theodore, his parents, and his three siblings is evident throughout the book.

The whole family seems afflicted with mysterious ailments, and Theodore’s asthma gets a whole chapter. Other health issues bring unexpected loss and hardships throughout the book, and are the origin of one of the most tragic days in the pre-White House lives of the American presidents.

We get a whole chapter on Theodore’s first significant world travel—a yearlong European tour with the family—but very little on their tour of the Nile. It’s that one that was the beginning of his love of hunting and collecting of exotic specimens.

There may, for some readers, be too much detail in how to stuff an animal. There is also a gruesome part about a captured shrew and its live bait, but this turns out to serve as an ample metaphor his later time in Albany and Chicago (and, perhaps, later still in DC).

Politics are minimal, save for the two chapters on his first years as an assemblyman (titled, “Politics”) and the 1884 Chicago Republican National Convention (“Chicago”).

In the afterword we learn the fates of all the siblings, but sadly not that of Theodore’s firstborn child—who lived a life that rivaled her father’s and makes for an excellent biography of her own.

Overall, this is a excellent look at the life of “the child who became Theodore Roosevelt,” but the reader should know going in that this is not a traditional, “cradle-to-grave” biography. Nonetheless, its value in understanding the man with his face carved in a mountain near the Bad Lands is tremendous.

David McCullough is a fabulous writer. His book Mornings on Horseback is a wonderful perspective of the young life of Theodore Roosevelt.
I realize that it is not a complete biography, but the story of a boy who became the man.
T. R. was one of four children born to a privileged family.
I loved how the Roosevelts traveled extensively throughout Europe .
Theodore was not a well child and suffered with attacks of asthma, throughout his life. It was amazing to read how as a sickly child he became a strong adult.
I found it interesting to read about his adventures in the Dakota Badlands, where he escaped after the death of his first wife and his mother.
This book provides a compelling portrait of the early life of T.R. It is well written and researched. I read the hard copy edition and enjoyed the family photographs.
There is an extensive bibliography and notes in the back of this book.
No one does it better than David McCullough.