McFarland juxtaposes the lives of two important men at the turn of the 20th century in this fascinating read. I read in search of more knowledge on Theodore Roosevelt in particular, for research purposes, but the sections on Mark Twain were equally riveting. McFarland did a good job, I think, of showing how complicated they were: Roosevelt with all his good to conserve land and establish peace, even as he believed firmly in the science of the time that elevated Anglo-Saxons as the superior species; and Mark Twain, a showman who grew increasingly taciturn as he aged and liked to play grandfather in a way that now seems suspicious. The downsides to the book came down to organization; the material was sometimes frustratingly redundant and it constantly hop-skipped.

This was both a good and useful book, however, and one I will be keeping for future reference. ( )

Provides good description of turn of the century...Twain the last of the old, Roosevelt first of the new. The end of bucolic, inward America vs the beginning of U.S. imperialism. Full of interesting anecdotes. One of Twains daughters, Jean, was an epileptic, and evidently died as the result of a seizure...see pages 403-404. Another example of sudden death from epilepsy. SUDEP.

An interesting idea, badly executed. Through the lives and controversies of two of the most prominent Americans at the turn of the 20th Century, McFarland uses a thematic structure (race, international relations, etc.) to address his subject. The approach is. however, not always justified by his protagonists and is sometimes confusing, often repetitive. ( )