The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King: A Novel of Teddy Roosevelt and His Times - Softcover

Charyn, Jerome

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1631496662 ISBN 13: 9781631496660

Publisher: Liveright, 2020

Synopsis

Teddy Roosevelt comes to comic life in Jerome Charyn’s “tremendous[ly] fun . . . delightful novel” (Ron Charles, Washington Post).

Widely considered “one of our most rewarding novelists,” Jerome Charyn “has upped the ante” (Larry McMurtry) by re-creating the voice of Theodore Roosevelt through his derring-do adventures as New York City police commissioner, Rough Rider, and soon-to-be twenty-sixth president. Beginning with his sickly childhood and concluding with McKinley’s assassination in 1901, Charyn positions Roosevelt as a fearless crime fighter and pioneering environmentalist who would grow up to be our greatest peacetime president. With an operatic cast, including “Bamie,” his handicapped older sister; Eleanor, his gawky little niece; as well as the devoted Rough Riders; the novel memorably features the lovable mountain lion Josephine, who helped train Roosevelt for his “crowded hour,” the charge up San Juan Hill. “Graced with vivid, vigorous writing” (Gerard Helferich, Wall Street Journal), The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King is a rollicking work of historical fiction that will appeal to fans of Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.

6 black-and-white illustrations

About this title

About the Author:

Jerome Charyn's stories have appeared in The Atlantic, Paris Review, American Scholar, Epoch, Narrative, Ellery Queen, and other magazines. His most recent novel is I Am Abraham. He lived for many years in Paris and currently resides in Manhattan.

Review:

Jerome Charyn is a one off: no other living American writer crafts novels with his vibrancy of historical imagination. If you think his novels about Dickinson and Lincoln are virtuosic works of art, The Cowboy King will astonish you anew. Here is Teddy Roosevelt as you've never before experienced him, and as you won't soon forget him.--William Giraldi, author of American Audacity: In Defense of Literary Daring

A rendering of Teddy Roosevelt's early life that spotlights formative moments in colorful, entertaining episodes. Charyn makes artful use of historical fact and fiction's panache to capture the man before he became one of the great U.S. presidents and a face on Mount Rushmore.

Marked from beginning to end by restlessness and adventure.... A ripping, enjoyable yarn.--Keir Graff, Booklist

Who wouldn't want to grow old like Jerome Charyn? Now in his 80s, the prolific writer seems ever more daring. Charyn has found a path all his own -- neither a substitute for biography nor a violation of it.... For fans of Roosevelt, this is tremendous fun.... One of the melancholy pleasures of this novel is the contrast it continually presents to our current president. The reviewer's handbook says I'm not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I have to offer some praise for this unusually witty dust jacket. It strikes just the right tone, as does this delightful novel.--Ron Charles, The Washington Post

Undeniably, a marvel.... Charyn's empathetic first-person strategy keeps the tone sprightly positive.--Jean Zimmerman, New York Times Book Review

Graced with vivid, vigorous writing.... [Charyn] has written the rousing yarn advertised in his title and dust jacket, and he has written it well.--Gerard Helferich, The Wall Street Journal

Charyn captures Roosevelt's doubts, aspirations and ebullient spirit.... A lively, warts-and-all portrait of an irrepressible man.--Mary Ann Gwinn, Newsday

About this edition

• Publisher: Liveright
• Publication date: 2020
• ISBN 10: 1631496662
• ISBN 13: 9781631496660
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304