Nicolas

Sawicky Critique of The Warrior and the Priest Professor Annuziata The early 20th century was a progressive time for the United States of

America. New leaders were attempting to fight their way through the machine politics of the time and worked to improve life for the common workingman. Two of these leaders were Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. The duel- biography, The Warrior and the Priest, tries to capture the similarities and differences between these two men while proceeding through their life events. As a history enthusiast, I choose this book because of the two men it covered.

I have a profound respect for these two men and all that they did for America during the early 20th century. They both lived extraordinary lives, amazingly during the same time period. While The Warrior and the Priest does bring up some interesting facts about these two men and their interactions, it was an overall disappointment in my eyes. You find out early that the book does not present itself very well. I found

myself reading the book, but not absorbing any of the information. This is due to a few problems with the biography. Some of these problems include: there are too many big words, topics are discussed without some background information, the story is not linear, overlapping story, biased opinion, and overall lack of flow.

One of the biggest problems I have with a book is when it has unnecessary

big words. Not only does it slow down the pace of the reading, but it also is perceived as an egomaniacal move by the author to make him sound smart. Even though Cooper thought these words added more intellectual might to his book, they actually detracted from the speed of the book. This made the book seem longer and less interesting. One example of this is when Cooper chooses the words habitual allegiances instead of something much simpler like usual pick, when talking about voters tactics (207). Another sore spot in this book is Coopers assumption that the reader has a

base knowledge for everything that he discusses. When the reader does not know what is being discussed, they feel dumbfounded. One example of this practice is in the chapter Manse and World. The whole chapter is very dry and it gets worse when Cooper starts talking about Calvanist views on the reconcilability of material interests (19). Cooper does not take anytime to give the reader some background on the topic, but instead expects them to be knowledgeable in the area. Another example of Coopers failure to provide background information on topics is when he talks about how Roosevelt compared Woodrow Wilson to William Graham Sumner (133). The reader is supposed to know that this is an insult, without any prior knowledge on who Sumner is, besides that he is a professor. This insult went right over my head. Most people are used to a liner story line, especially in a biography. Cooper

does use a basic linear story line, but jumps back and forth through time so often, it

is hard to understand what is going on. This is made more confusing as there are two separate story lines through out the book. The lives of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson trade off each chapter and connect at the beginning and end of each section. There is also constant overlap between time periods in each persons life. The reader will come across information on Roosevelt as vice president sometimes one hundred pages apart from each other. All this jumping around leaves the reader confused and wishing they were reading two separate biographies that go through each persons life in a more linear format. As early as the second chapter, I began to notice a definite biased opinion by

Cooper. The first chapter paints Teddy Roosevelt as this great child who was not only a genius, but overcame physical obstacles to make himself a better man. Cooper then barely touches on the much more debilitating ailment of Dyslexia (20). Which Wilson not only overcame, but also ended up with a doctorate and became the President of the highly prestigious Princeton University. It was after this, I thought Cooper lost all credibility when talking about Woodrow Wilson. The book also suffers from an overall lack of flow. Cooper will stay on boring

topics for pages and stupefy the reader. Then Cooper will choose to jump way to fast in another area of the book. On page 38, the reader goes through Roosevelts life as Police Commissioner, to assistant secretary of the Navy, to the commander of the Rough Riders. Cooper should slow down his pace and focus on each position and how his actions changed America.

Not everything about The Warrior and the Priest was negative though.

Ignoring the bias, he brings some great information to the table, especially regarding Theodore Roosevelt. I particularly enjoyed the sections regarding the childhood of these two world leaders. It was information that you usually would not learn about in a normal history course. The preface is an excellent start to the book, The Warrior and the Priest. It

introduces that fact that a rivalry existed between these two men and that it can be compared to the historic rivalry of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton (xiii). Knowing all to well about the rivalry between two of our founding fathers, that statement really got me excited to start reading the book. The interest to begin the book was further electrified when Cooper states that each of them would not have existed as we know them if it were not for their rivalry (xiii). The preface was certainly a good self-promotion of the book that was to follow. The quick opening sections in The Warrior and the Priest were a nice touch

for the overall topics that were going to be covered in the succeeding chapters. The first section, The Dude and the Professor, quickly compares and contrasts their early lives (3). The reader is then able to keep that information in mind when reading about Roosevelt and Wilsons early lives. Finally getting into the first chapter, I quickly discover that the chapters are

for the most part, not in the same format as the opening section. They are thankfully broken up between Roosevelt and Wilson. This allows for a more fluid read, as

opposed to the back and forth between two completely different individuals like in the section opener and the end of sections. Cooper does an exceptional job whenever he discusses Theodore Roosevelt.

The reader is introduced to Teddys regiment of physical workouts and fearlessness, which help you understand what kind of person he was throughout his life (7). Cooper also adds a nice personal touch to the exploration of Roosevelt with excerpts from his autobiography. The reader is able to hear Teddys thoughts, for example: If I went into a scientific career, must definitely abandon all thought of enjoyment that could accompany a money-making career, and must find my pleasures elsewhere (10). In this quote, the reader is able to understand Roosevelts thought process after college and his decision to step away from science as a profession. When you think of Teddy Roosevelt, you think of the Rough Riders during the

Spanish/American war. Many people wonder where his passion for warfare is derived from. Interestingly enough, Cooper concludes that Theodore Roosevelts obsession with war comes from his fathers lack of service (13). During the Civil War, Teddys father chose to pay someone to replace him during the war, instead of fighting himself. Roosevelt saw this as a stain against his family and thus chose to overly focus on military service, so that the stain from his father could be wiped clean. Cooper ends the chapter on Theodors childhood with a very interesting bit

of information. As the reader already knows, Teddy had some physical ailments as a

child. What I was surprised to learn was that a doctor had told young Teddy that he could not exert himself, if he wished to live more than a few years (14). This fact brings to light the true essence that is Theodore Roosevelt. He loved to exert himself, and he did not listen to anyone. I have to commend Cooper on a great way to end the chapter. When the reader is finally introduced to Woodrow Wilson, you immediately

know that this is a strikingly different individual. He comes from a very religious background in the south, which played a part in created the man we know as Woodrow Wilson (15). The most amazing thing that I did not know about Wilson is that his first name was not Woodrow, but Thomas. He had it changed, in part to please his mother, whose family name was Woodrow. With Woodrow Wilson being a fraternal brother of mine, I am ashamed to say that fact escaped me. For the brief time that Cooper spends on Wilsons Dyslexia, he does do a good job of portraying its effect on young Tommy. Wilson once even exclaimed, I wonder if I am the slowest reader in the world (20). Truly something that would bring a tear to any parent. The Dyslexia quote is not the only time Cooper plays with the readers

emotions. He later describes an Army Navy game at Princeton where the two men met publically face to face for the last time (130). He then goes on to say that not even one picture exists of this historic meeting. I found myself vigorously wanting there to be a picture of these two great men.

The reason these men were never seen in public after that is because after

that, a rivalry was created. Cooper does an excellent job of giving the reader a play- by-play account of public statements and articles that attacked each other (131). They quickly went from admirers to adversaries. This set the stage for their later battle for the presidency in 1912. One of the more entertaining sides of The Warrior and the Priest are the titles

of its chapters. They are intelligent and give a good description of what is to come in the chapter. A great example of this is the chapter title, Insurgent (143). This chapter tells about Roosevelts internal fight within the Republican Party and his eventual part in splitting the party. This description fits perfectly with the definition of what an insurgent is. The illustrations section is another rare gem in this book. It adds a nice break

to the text along with its ability to strengthen the material. The reader gets to see early pictures of the Dude and the Professor (138-139). Going back to the fact that there is no surviving photograph of these two men together, Cooper adds a doctored photograph of a debate that never happened, adding to the imagination to what I wish existed (146-147). The funniest of the pictures, is the cartoon on page 149. It depicts Wilson as a stoic figure between the Warmonger, Teddy Roosevelt, and the pacifist, William Jennings Brian. I literally laughed out loud when I saw the over-excited illustration of Teddy in this cartoon.

At the beginning of each section in The Warrior and the Priest, Cooper adds

one or two meaningful quotes to prepare the reader for the upcoming section. I really enjoyed some of these quotes with the one at the beginning of Section IV, standing out the most. It is by Robert Osgood and explains the comparison to the Nietzsche Warrior and Priest & Roosevelt and Wilson, respectively (223). It provides a nice ah moment in the book for the reader and leads you into the final section with ease. The Warrior and the Priest was an obvious choice for me because it covered

two of my favorite political figures of the 20th century. Unfortunately the book did not live up to the lives that thee two men lived. It was a boring read, riddled with flow problems. The book did add to my already vast knowledge of these two individuals, and I thank it for that. But I now see that my instincts regarding a duel- biography were right. Its a combination that just does not work.