TMITA

I've been reading The Man in the Arena, a collection of selected writings by Theodore Roosevelt. This was a gift, and, though I appreciated it, the book was not what I expected when I said that I'd like some kind of history or biography as a Christmas present. TR's writing style is florid, to put it mildly, and there have been pages where I just skipped ahead three or four pages, just because it was tough going.

But I am surprised to find that much of it is quite good, even given the style. For example, his description of the Battle for New Orleans, in the War of 1812, where the British were soundly defeated by Andrew Jackson's rag tag (to put it mildly) crew, is extraordinary. For years, my image of that has been a combination of grade school history and Disney's imagery (picture the stalwart Fess Parker glaring across the breastworks as the British machine lumbers towards him, and you'll get the idea). That's not TR's description, at all. I'm sure that in its way its as wrong as Disney, since in TR's writing all the men, British and American alike, are fierce, eager fighters who are implacable in their fury against the foe. They are wily, cunning, hardened, experienced. When they die, they don't just die; they fall, stricken, their last gasp a mighty oath that their country, their flag, and their fellows be held safe in the eyes of the o'erseeing deity.

This is not your father's War of 1812.