Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris

I thoroughly enjoyed this second volume in Morris' biography of Theodore Roosevelt.  There's so much to capture about the man that I won't even try.

But it is fascinating to learn how this Republican was progressive in so many ways: His fights against corruption, taking on the trusts like no one had done before, his permanent preservation of huge tracts of land under federal protection and so much more. 

TR marks the transition from a nation on the rise to a global superpower, and he seemed to notice this more than anyone of his day.  He realized that the US had arrived, that our economy was unmatched and that it was time for the robber-barons - whom he fully acknowledged had taken great risks to build American's economic might (by creating steel, transport, oil and other mechanisms of growth) - to start giving back.  They had profited rightly, and mightily.  And now it was their responsibility to give back.

He had both vision, and the ability to act on it.  The brains of Greece, the strength of Rome.  A might combination indeed.