THE KING AND THE COWBOY Theodore Roosevelt and Edward the Seventh: The Secret Partners

Professor Fromkin uses four biographies to tell his story: that of Edward VII of England; Edward's mother, Queen Victoria; his nephew, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany; and Theodore Roosevelt. He ties the principals together by weighing their influence in a 1906 conference at Algeciras, Spain, convened to determine the fate of Morocco. The events of this period presaged WW I. Narrator Paul Boehmer shows his linguistic skill with the occasional French and German he must perform. He chooses a relaxed tempo that allows listeners to assimilate the abundant historical detail, and he uses a conversational style to add some spark to an otherwise dull rhetoric. Unfortunately, Boehmer misses many opportunities to use an appropriate foreign accent to distinguish the abundant quotes by non-native English speakers. J.A.H. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2008]