Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt

The National Book Award-winning biography that tells the story of how young Teddy Roosevelt transformed himself from a sickly boy into the vigorous man who would become a war hero and ultimately president of the United States, told by master historian David McCullough.<br><br><i>Mornings on Horseback</i> is the brilliant biography of the young Theodore Roosevelt. Hailed as &quot;a masterpiece&quot; (John A. Gable, <i>Newsday) ,</i> it is the winner of the <i>Los Angeles Times</i> 1981 Book Prize for Biography and the National Book Award for Biography. Written by David McCullough, the author of <i>Truman,</i> this is the story of a remarkable little boy, seriously handicapped by recurrent and almost fatal asthma attacks, and his struggle to manhood: an amazing metamorphosis seen in the context of the very uncommon household in which he was raised.<br> <br>The father is the first Theodore Roosevelt, a figure of unbounded energy, enormously attractive and selfless, a god in the eyes of his small, frail namesake. The mother, Mittie Bulloch Roosevelt, is a Southerner and a celebrated beauty, but also considerably more, which the book makes clear as never before. There are sisters Anna and Corinne, brother Elliott (who becomes the father of Eleanor Roosevelt) , and the lovely, tragic Alice Lee, TR's first love. All are brought to life to make &quot;a beautifully told story, filled with fresh detail&quot; (<i>The New York Times Book Review</i>) .<br> <br>A book to be read on many levels, it is at once an enthralling story, a brilliant social history and a work of important scholarship which does away with several old myths and breaks entirely new ground. It is a book about life intensely lived, about family love and loyalty, about grief and courage, about &quot;blessed&quot; mornings on horseback beneath the wide blue skies of the Badlands.