Rough Rider in the White House: Theodore Roosevelt and the Politics of Desire (Paperback)

"Rough Rider in the White House" presents a fascinating psychological portrait of the twenty-sixth president of the United States, a man whose personal obsession with masculinity profoundly influenced the fate of a nation. Historian Sarah Watts argues that Theodore Roosevelt struggled, like many of his contemporaries, with what it meant to be a man in the modern era. With his unabashed paeans to violence and aggressive politics (Woodrow Wilson referred to him as "the most dangerous man of the age"), Roosevelt ultimately offered American men a chance to project their longings and fears onto the nation and its policies. Written with passion and precision, this powerful appraisal of an American icon dramatically alters the way we see Theodore Roosevelt and his political legacy.