4506. When Trumpets Call Theodore Roosevelt After the White House, by Patricia O'Toole (read 12 Nov 2008) This is a fantastically good book, telling of TR's time after he left the White House. The account of his safari in Africa is well-done, and tells the story better than I have read of it before. Then the account of 1912 and the lead-up to that extraordinary election year seemed fresh and new though I have read so much on it heretofore. Obviously TR was a self-centered egomaniac, and this book though often admiratory of TR does not hesitate to show his flaws. His trip in Brazil seems to an old man like me to have been extremely foolhardy, but TR being the kind of person he was it can be expected of him. The book does evoke one's admiration for the family during the World War, as it carefully traces the war services of his four sons, and the death of Quentin is heart-breaking even though I did not admire a lot of things about TR. He defintely would have run for President in 1920, but of course his health would have counter-indicated such--but that would not have stopped him. This is a great book, and was great to read--scarcely a dull page. ( )