BULLY! The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt really is “BULLY!” – as in Theodore Roosevelt’s usage, meaning “terrific!” “great idea!” It was written a few years back, and it has been sitting on my shelf unread for a few years back… (so many books, so little time…)

Anyway, it is a bully book on many fronts! Not the least of which is that it is a good looking book, beautifully composed and printed.

First a few comments on author Rick Marchall, a talented fellow on many fronts as well. Just like a superb athlete at one sport can excel at several others, creative artistic talents can frequently manifest in multiple forms. This author is a gifted (and successful) political cartoonist, which already taps into a variety of talents. He also has a generous eye for other political cartoonists of old, and their works are featured throughout. Then, of course, he has a good ear for the vernacular, which makes him a fine writer. But perhaps the link that ties it all together, is his “nose.” He has the nose for sniffing out all the good stories and he tells them well. And as a Theodore Roosevelt aficionado myself, I don’t think he has missed many!

What makes BULLY! stand apart from the hundreds of books written by-and-about Theodore Roosevelt, and the billions of words about him in newspapers and magazines and films, is the unerring way Marchall taps into the essence of TR’s persona, his soul, his spirit and all the other facets that make him an exceptional human being.

The basic facts are all there, and they are accurate, and unembellished for the most part – but it is way above the stuff of encyclopedia entries. There must be at least a hundred “episodes” that make for good storytelling. Marschall doesn’t “tell the story” per se, he alludes to it. Like the brief account of Father TR. With six rambunctious children, there were the usual squabbles and brawls, requiring TR to adjudicate the matter. He always listened, but before hearing any side, the first thing that he wanted was the truth. This is core Theodore – and you can practically visualize the story and the moral he always tried to stand for.

Then of course, there’s the story of President TR bemoaning to an acquaintance that he wished he had a good constitutional lawyer to talk to. His companion was amazed, since he had two of the best constitutional lawyers in the country (and his good friends) in his cabinet: Elihu Root (State) and William Howard Taft (War). “Yes, I now,” sighed Roosevelt, “but they don’t agree with me.” It is also core and classic TR.

Part of the successful “nosing” is all the help Marschall has assembled from scores of political cartoonists of Theodore’s yesteryear. They were light years more potent than the pre-Civil War cartoonists, good in their own way, but gabby and cluttered. The late decades of the 19^th century and into the early 20^th were awash with marvelous and savvy political artists whose skills with pen and ink – and wit – were as good (if not better) than today’s commentators.

So, not to belabor a wealth of marvelous information, talent, humor and pithiness thrown into his lap a generation or three later, author Marschall merely needed to sort things out and intellectually cut-and-paste. The meat is already there, and it is dee-licious!

Arguably the most unique aspect of BULLY! are those old political cartoons and illustrations, most of which are more than a hundred years old. Some of them refer to long-ago near-forgotten episodes of history. But a huge number have relevance today!

Marschall likely could have written the script and contextual material in his sleep; after all he has been an acknowledged TR maven for years. But methinks his pure dee-light was in the explaining, or annotating the cartoons, which are not usually found in TR books. And who better than a fine political cartoonist who knows, loves and appreciates history! He captions a pile of left-to-right caricatures of dead guys most people never heard of, and I daresay he enjoyed every minute of it, since he knows them all like family.

On a personal note, it was my good timing to read the book now, in such troubled and worrisome times. So much of what TR said and thought is pertinent today, and the lessons are still valid.

So whether the reader is significantly learned in TR – or is the casual novice, BULLY! is a book that should be on every TR lover’s shelf! Read it! You’ll enjoy it.

BULLY!: The Life and Times of Theodore Roosevelt

Rick Marschall

Regnery History, 2011

• ISBN-10: 1596981547
• ISBN-13: 978-1596981546