William Davison Johnston's TR: Champion of the Strenuous Life, a photographic biography of Theodore Roosevelt, is mainly a long list of the occupations and roles held by Roosevelt in his life. Johnston wants to show that Roosevelt was far more than a "soldier," "politician" and "distinguished public figure" (Johnston 9). The author gives the reader a brief look at the many other positions and roles held by Roosevelt in his life. These include frontiersman, rancher, husband and father, civil service and police commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Rough Rider, colonel and war hero, Governor of New York state, author, Vice-President and President, trust-buster, builder of the Panama Canal, peacemaker, public speaker, conservationist, hunter, scholar, world traveler, progressive, jungle explorer, grandfather, and general "exemplar of American ideals" (141).
The photographs give support to the author's main argument that Roosevelt was an exceptional man and leader, and that his high character was expressed in the practically non-stop action of his life. Roosevelt, says Johnston, was full of contrasts and contradictions, and was a role model for all who want to live a full and courageous life. Roosevelt was "worldly, but simple in heart, terrible in battle but generous and understanding" and he "lived the full life in joyous fashion. Individualistic, uninhibited and audacious, he left an example of all that is admired and cherished in a free man" (9).
The book shows clearly that Roosevelt was an example of the man of action who symbolizes the American standards of courage and vitality.
The book gives such a one-sided picture of Roosevelt that the reader might think Roosevelt was a god rather than a human being. Johnston has nothing bad to say about Roosevelt, and the reader after a few pages begins to doubt that he is getting the whole picture of the man.
Some of the statements are so exaggerated that the reader begin...