Theodore Roosevelt Books

Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919), also known as TR, and to the public (but never to friends and intimates) as Teddy, was the twenty-sixth President of the United States. In March 1909, shortly after the end of his presidency, Roosevelt left New York for a safari in east and central Africa.

Roosevelt's party hunted for specimens for the Smithsonian Institution and for the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The group was led by the legendary professional hunter R J Cunninghame and was joined from time to time by Frederick Selous. Among other items, Roosevelt brought with him four tons of salt for preserving animal hides, a lucky rabbit's foot, an elephant-rifle and the famous Pigskin Library, a collection of classics bound in pig leather and transported in a single reinforced trunk.

Roosevelt and his companions killed or trapped more than 11,397 animals, from insects and moles to hippopotamuses and elephants. These included 512 big game animals, including six white rhinos. The expedition consumed 262 of the animals. Tons of salted animals and their skins were shipped to Washington and it took years to mount them all.

African Game Trails by Theodore Roosevelt (1910) is about the famed safari of the noted sportsman, conservationist and President.

Life Histories Of African Game Animals by Theodore Roosevelt and Edmund Heller (1914)

Historic Prints of Theodore Roosevelt's Safari

Theodore Roosevelt DVD

In The Blood is a film by George Butler of two hunting safaris separated by eighty years. The first, taken by Theodore Roosevelt in 1909, is captured through vintage footage and photography. The second is taken by Roosevelt's grandson in 1986, as he shoulder's the famed president's rifle and, accompanied by his young son, follows in the footsteps of elephants and crocodiles. R L Wilson was involved in the filming of this documentary. DVD 90 mins.

Other Theodore Roosevelt Books

The Works Of Theodore Roosevelt by Theodore Roosevelt (1882)

Hunting Trips Of A Ranchman by Theodore Roosevelt (1885) provides vivid portraits of the land as well as the people and animals that inhabited it, underscoring Roosevelt's abiding concerns as a naturalist. This book chronicles Roosevelt's adventures tracking a twelve-hundred-pound grizzly bear in the pine forests of the Bighorn Mountains.

Through The Brazilian Wilderness by Theodore Roosevelt (1914). At the age of fifty-five, Theodore Roosevelt took part in an expedition to the far reaches of the Amazon. This book is Roosevelt's journal during the expedition into the unknown in the name of science.

East Of The Sun And West Of The Moon by Theodore Roosevelt (1926) is a very important Asian sheep hunting classic. Ovis poli, ibex, wapiti and bear hunting in the Tian Shen, Mountains of Ladakh.

Books About Theodore Roosevelt

R L Wilson

Theodore Roosevelt: Outdoorsman by R L Wilson (1971) is a fascinating biography written by one of America's foremost authorities on Winchester and Colt firearms. It covers not only Roosevelt's love of hunting and conservation but relates to the firearms he used and there is a particularly interesting section on the planning for his African trip and the American rifles he arranged for his great adventure.

Theodore Roosevelt: Hunter-Conservationist by R L Wilson (2010) is new from the Boone and Crockett Club and is a sweeping view of the outdoor life of the rancher, explorer, soldier, statesman, author, 26th President of the United States - and hero to hunters and conservationists.

Related Theodore Roosevelt Books

Kermit Roosevelt

A Sentimental Safari by Kermit Roosevelt (1963) is the story of how three Roosevelts rediscovered their respective grandfathers. Kermit Roosevelt, son of Kermit and grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, retraced the trails of the great African hunt which his grandfather and his father had engaged in during ten eventful months, from April 1909 to February 1910. When his own two sons became old enough, he began to organize the hunt. Life magazine sent a photographer with them on the safari. Winchester Arms, which had supplied Theodore Roosevelt's famous "Medicine Gun for Lions," supplied a modern battery of rifles. So father and sons boned up on 'African Game Trails' and set out to retrace its steps. During their weeks in Africa, they rediscovered old trails and old companions of that earlier hunt.

• In Africa: Hunting Adventures In The Big Game Country by John McCutcheon (1910) is an account of his African safari with Carl Akeley which met and spent time with the Roosevelt safari.
• Edgar A Mearns (1913-15) African bird books. He was one of the three eminent naturalists accompanying the Roosevelt safari.
• Edmund Heller (1909-14) African rodent and mammal books. He was one of the three eminent naturalists accompanying the Roosevelt safari.
• African Adventure Stories by J Alden Loring (1932) who was the third naturalist on the Roosevelt safari.