The American Century owes its existence to Theodore Roosevelt, and Howard Jones reminds us that the long period of relative peace and prosperity came by way of Roosevelt’s statecraft. In the first comprehensive book about Roosevelt’s foreign policy since Howard Beale’s 1956 masterpiece, Jones tells how Big Stick diplomacy secured American interests and global order. And, just like Roosevelt, Jones has left us with a history that will live on for generations.
— Michael Cullinane, Dickinson State University
It’s been nearly a half century that TR, a lion of American foreign policy, has gotten serious scholarly attention. Wielding deep research and measured prose, and without resort to hagiography, Jones and Rakestraw have balanced Roosevelt as a muscular unilateralist and internationalist peacemaker. This tour de force is accessible to all.
— Thomas Zeiler, University of Colorado Boulder
Howard Jones, one of America’s most eminent historians, has left us with a deeply researched and beautifully written analysis of President Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy, which set the course for America's role in the modern world. This is a magnificent book that will find a large audience.
— Don H. Doyle, author of The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War
While crafting this accessible, engaging, and provocative analysis of Theodore Roosevelt’s presidential foreign policies, Howard Jones sought to allow TR to speak for himself. While completing and editing the manuscript, Donald Rakestraw endeavored to preserve Jones’s voice and principal themes. Both have succeeded admirably, and together, they have conveyed Roosevelt’s complex and evolving perspectives, his combination of idealism and practicality, his role as more peacemaker than disciple of war, and his elevation of the United States to major player on the international scene.
— Joseph Fry, University of Nevada, Las Vegas