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When Trumpets Call: Theodore Roosevelt after the White House. By Patricia O'Toole. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005. 494 pp.
What happens to a powerful man after his power is gone? That is the central question guiding Patricia O'Toole in her well-written and thoroughly researched study of Theodore Roosevelt's postpresidential life. The title of the book comes from a statement Roosevelt made to a youth group while still in office: "The trumpet call is the most inspiring of all sounds, because it summons men to spurn ease and self-indulgence and timidity, and bids them forth to the field where they must dare and do and die at need" (p. 2). Throughout his postpresidential years, Roosevelt believed that the American people were calling him to service as a trumpet called soldiers to battle. In reality, though, it was often his own need for action and his need to influence national life that motivated him.
O'Toole begins her story with Roosevelt's famous African safari, which indicated not only that the former president would remain in the public eye but also that he had no intention of remaining a private citizen. Deeply ingrained in Roosevelt's personality was the need to engage in some kind of epic struggle. While on safari, this need manifested itself in Roosevelt's intense desire to bag a lion. Once he returned to...