As the twenty-sixth president of the United States from 1901 to 1909, Roosevelt embodied the overwhelming confidence of the nation as it entered the American Century. With a fierce joy, he brandished a ''Big Stick'' abroad and promised a ''Square Deal'' at home. He was the nation's first environmental president, challenged the trusts, and, as the first American leader to play an important role in world affairs, began construction of a long-dreamed-of canal across Panama, and he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for almost single-handedly bringing about a peaceful end to the Russo-Japanese War. In addition to following Roosevelt's political career - from his role as a youthful reformer battling New York City's corrupt Tammany Hall machine to his term as New York State governor to his presidency, in which he established the progressive agenda, to his ill-fated run on the third-party Bull Moose ticket in 1912 - Theodore Roosevelt examines the man as well. This book looks deeply into his personal relations with his close associates and his family, his children, and particularly the two women he married. Theodore Roosevelt presents a three-dimensional portrait of a man of flesh and blood who confronted life-wrenching tragedies as well as triumphs. It is biography at its best.