I will admit right here that if I tried to read the physical book instead of the audiobook, read by actor Edward Herrmann, I never would have finished it. It is interesting and I learned a lot about the Progressive era of American politics at the turn of the 20th century. Part of the incentive to read it is the Pulitzer Prize winning author whose meticulous research and balanced view of events is evidenced in all her books. The stories of Teddy Roosevelt's and W.H. Taft's friendship and the rise in their careers is well told, with much I never heard before. The rupture of the friendship during the brutal 1912 Presidential campaign shows a side of Roosevelt not usually depicted in biographies. Added to the stories of these larger than life men is a chronicle of the rise of investigative journalism, the muckrakers, and its effect on the politics of the time. The focus on publisher S.S. McClure and his exemplary fleet of writers which included Ida Tarbell, Ray Stannard Baker, Lincoln Steffens, and William Alan White. If this tome does nothing else, it shows that history indeed repeats itself and the political battles of the early 1900s are very similar to what is happening today.
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