A conventional, even melodramatic, political history of the Progressive Era

Review of The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin

In spite of the promising “Bully Pulpit” theme – where TR's direct democracy coalesced with the investigative journalism of the muckrakers – Kearns' book is a sentimental, rather conventional political history. It is way too long, often loses the narrative thread in trivial biographical detail, and never really makes a clear point. OK, I'm comparing thi…