Marian Miner Cook
Athenaeum

Theodore Roosevelt wrote in his senior thesis for Harvard in 1880 that women ought to be paid equal to men and have the option of keeping their maiden names upon marriage. It’s little surprise Roosevelt would be a feminist, given the women he grew up with. From his witty and decisive mother Mittie to his sunny college sweetheart and first wife Alice; from his older sister Bamie who would eventually become his key political strategist and advisor to his younger sister Conie, his eventual press secretary before the role existed; to ultimately Edith—his childhood playmate and second wife, Ed O’Keefe’s “graceful and powerful book” (Candice Millard) filled with “meticulous research [and] perceptive insights” (The New York Times), The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President celebrates these five extraordinary yet unsung women who opened the door to the American Century and pushed Theodore Roosevelt through it.