Modernity’s best-selling history book author, David McCullough, knew how to tell a factual story that did not leave his readers yawning or pining for a thriller. Before he died in August 2022 at age 89, his thorough biographies, two of which received the Pulitzer Prize, captivated millions of readers due to his stimulating storytelling style. “Mornings on Horseback,” the biography of the 26th president published in 1981, spans 17 years of Theodore Roosevelt Jr.’s life.
Instead of beginning at the time of birth, McCullough brings us into “Teedie’s” life at age 10 and exposes the juxtaposition of his parents’ lives: an antebellum, Georgia-raised mother and a quintessentially New Yorker father. His South and North parents’ devotion to one another during the Civil War solidified Theodore’s firm, family-oriented foundation. And it was their devotion to helping their oldest son overcome a failure to thrive due to asthma that strengthened Theodore for a life of exhilarating adventure and emotional tenacity.
