The Old Lion

Jeff Shaara, New York Times bestselling author of seventeen novels as well as a four time winner of the American Library Association's William Boyd Young Award (for excellence in military fiction), returns with one of his finest works yet, The Old Lion: A novel of Theodore Roosevelt. Shaara traces the life of one of the most consequential figures in the U.S. and the world at large, from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, from the waning days of the rough and tumble frontier of a young country, to the forging of the modern country and world power. Roosevelt went from being a sickly child with debilitating asthma to a vigorous life, enthusiastically lived. From his upbringing in New York society of the late 19th century, to his time as a cattle rancher in the badlands of the Dakotas, to his political rise from obscurity to New York City policeman, to Assistant Secretary of the Navy, to the leader of the Rough Riders in the Spanish American war, Governor of New York and his accidental rise to the Presidency. From his reform of the Civil Service, creation of the National Park System, assertion of 'Big Stick' diplomacy, Roosevelt not only embodied the adventurous image of the rough, unpolished American but he shaped the foundations of the modern country and world.