T.R.: THE LAST ROMANTIC

If greatness lies in paradox, then our twenty-sixth president must have been our greatest. Ardent hunter and ardent conservationist, this asthmatic became a war hero, then turned around and won the Nobel Peace Prize. A snob who thought Winston Churchill a shady self-promoter, Theodore Roosevelt remained friends with his cowboy troopers for life. Rich and well connected, he was suspected of siding with big business, yet his trust-busting efforts were so vigorous that when he went to Africa, J.P. Morgan is supposed to have said, "America expects that every lion will do his duty." O'Brien's voice is clear as a bell, but the tone is not altered, except to capture the high, nasal certainty of the man himself. The imposture would be more convincing if this same voice were not used for other authority figures, including, for instance, the great jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes. B.H.C. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 99]