The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Paperback, 9781416547877 | Buy online at The Nile
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The Bully Pulpit

Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism

Author: Doris Kearns Goodwin  

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Pulitzer Prize-winning author and presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's dynamic history of Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft and the first decade of the Progressive era, that tumultuous time when the nation was coming unseamed and reform was in the air.

Winner of the Carnegie Medal.

Doris Kearns Goodwin's The Bully Pulpit is a dynamic history of the first decade of the Progressive era, that tumultuous time when the nation was coming unseamed and reform was in the air.

The story is told through the intense friendship of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft--a close relationship that strengthens both men before it ruptures in 1912, when they engage in a brutal fight for the presidential nomination that divides their wives, their children, and their closest friends, while crippling the progressive wing of the Republican Party, causing Democrat Woodrow Wilson to be elected, and changing the country's history.

The Bully Pulpit is also the story of the muckraking press, which arouses the spirit of reform that helps Roosevelt push the government to shed its laissez-faire attitude toward robber barons, corrupt politicians, and corporate exploiters of our natural resources. The muckrakers are portrayed through the greatest group of journalists ever assembled at one magazine--Ida Tarbell, Ray Stannard Baker, Lincoln Steffens, and William Allen White--teamed under the mercurial genius of publisher S.S. McClure.

Goodwin's narrative is founded upon a wealth of primary materials. The correspondence of more than four hundred letters between Roosevelt and Taft begins in their early thirties and ends only months before Roosevelt's death. Edith Roosevelt and Nellie Taft kept diaries. The muckrakers wrote hundreds of letters to one another, kept journals, and wrote their memoirs. The letters of Captain Archie Butt, who served as a personal aide to both Roosevelt and Taft, provide an intimate view of both men.

The Bully Pulpit, like Goodwin's brilliant chronicles of the Civil War and World War II, exquisitely demonstrates her distinctive ability to combine scholarly rigor with accessibility. It is a major work of history--an examination of leadership in a rare moment of activism and reform that brought the country closer to its founding ideals.

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Critic Reviews

“"This sophisticated, character-driven book tells two big stories. . . . This is a fascinating work, even a timely one. . . . It captures the way a political party can be destroyed by factionalism, and it shows the important role investigative journalists play in political life."”

"Goodwin spent eight years working on The Bully Pulpit and the effort shows, much to the reader's benefit and delight. She keeps the story clipping along, chooses enlightening anecdotes...and has the narrative and historical acumen to weave her theme through 900 pages. At 70, let's hope she has at least a couple more biographies in mind...For now, savor The Bully Pulpit. It is a command performance of popular history."-- "Christian Science Monitor"
"Goodwin's evocative examination of the Progressive world is smart and engaging. . . . She presents a highly readable and detailed portrait of an era. The Bully Pulpit brings the early 20th century to life and firmly establishes the crucial importance of the press to Progressive politics."-- "The Washington Post"
"Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin has scored again with 'The Bully Pulpit, ' a thorough and well-written study of two presidents, as well as the journalists who covered them and exposed scandals in government and industry....Her genius in this huge volume (750 pages of text) is to take the three narratives and weave them into a comprehensive, readable study of the time ....The Bully Pulpit is a remarkable study of a tumultuous period in our history."-- "St. Louis Post-Dispatch"
"These fascinating times deserve a chronicler as wise and thorough as Goodwin. The Bully Pulpit is splendid reading."-- "Dallas Morning News"
"The interplay between personality and politics, temperament and leadership is one of the key themes animating Doris Kearns Goodwin's telling books...The same is true of her sprawling new book, The Bully Pulpit, which gives us revealing portraits of Theodore Roosevelt and his close friend, handpicked successor and eventual bitter rival, William Howard Taft...She also uses her impressive narrative skills to give us a visceral sense of the world in which Roosevelt and Taft came of age...She creates emotionally detailed portraits of the two men's families, provides an informed understanding of the political forces (conservative, moderate and insurgent) arrayed across the country at the time, and enlivens even highly familiar scenes like Teddy Roosevelt's daring charge up San Juan Hill."--Michiko Kakutani "The New York Times"

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About the Author

Doris Kearns Goodwin's work for President Johnson inspired her career as a presidential historian. Her first book was Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream. She followed up with the Pulitzer Prize-winning No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Homefront in World War II. She earned the Lincoln Prize for Team of Rivals, in part the basis for Steven Spielberg's film Lincoln, and the Carnegie Medal for The Bully Pulpit, about the friendship between Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Her last book, Leadership: In Turbulent Times was the inspiration for the History Channel docuseries on Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin Roosevelt, which she executive produced.

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Product Details

Publisher
Simon & Schuster
Published
9th September 2014
Pages
912
ISBN
9781416547877

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