Edmund Morris: Colonel Roosevelt  Edmund Morris: Colonel
Roosevelt   Colonel Roosevelt  Author: Edmund Morris Publisher:
Random House  Edmund Morris’ three-volume biography of Theodore
Roosevelt is one of the great biographies of the last half-
century. He solidifies its position with the final book in the
trilogy, Colonel Roosevelt, which follows the man post-
presidency, as he struggles to find his place in a world where
he’s legitimately the most famous man alive, but has limited
power. Though Colonel lacks focus in places, it’s a rewarding
end for readers who’ve followed the story so far, and it makes
the great man’s death powerfully moving.  Morris’ Roosevelt is
torn between his more-than-healthy ego and the public adulation
that feeds it and his sense of duty and honor. As such, the
book’s first half is its best, as Roosevelt struggles over what
to do after his handpicked successor, William Howard Taft,
utterly fails as a president. It starts off a bit scattered, as
Roosevelt’s world travels bring him int