BAMIE: Theodore Roosevelt's Remarkable Sister

by Lillian Rixey ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

Another specimen of the genus Roosevelt is ready for the curio shelf. As a turn-of-the-century socially political figurine, Anna Roosevelt Cowles qualified as listening post, hostess, and confessor-adviser for her rough-riding younger brother who, according to his reporter, greatly needed her solid support to counter-balance his big stick. Either Bamie was truly involved in the labyrinthine affairs of state, or this is a biography of Theodore from the vantage point of his sister's breakfast nook. Table companions were remarkable enough--Cabot Lodge, Henry Adams, Pecil Spring-Rice, an unholy horde of Roosevelts, and anyone else who figured in New York, Washington, and London political geometry. In political parlays, social uggling, and familial peace-making, Bamie portrays as ex post facto clairvoyant, snippy, good-willed confidante, and all-round Big Sister. Related in the ""gay Edwardian"" style of the time, the biography takes on a whiff of salon soporifics and a strong dose of rhetorical Theodoric. Surefire Ladies' Home Journal material of three score years ago, today Teddy's ""Driving Wheel of Destiny"" takes an historical back seat.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: McKay

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1963

Categories: NONFICTION