The
Naturalist by Darrin Lunde
In his new book, The
Naturalist, Museum Specialist at the Smithsonian Darrin Lunde tells the
story of Theodore Roosevelt and his quest to explore and excavate from nature
many prized findings. While you won’t
find much about his political here, Darrin does a great job at framing the
story of how young Theodore though sickly, was fascinated by nature, its
animals and the habitats in which they live.
This is a more specialized book in the sense that a takes a slice of
Theodore’s life and hones in on it with great precision.
Early on young Theodore was captured by the travels his
family took him on, especially in the Adirondack country. Lunde writes, “Theodore was in heaven. Later, he would refer to his Adirondack days
as his introduction to and first inspiration for preserving wilderness (40).” Canoeing, hiking, and camping in the
beautiful country was a first entry point into the wilderness of the
Adirondacks for Theoodre Jr. “Covering
the entire month of August, Roosevelt’s accounts of his trip included
references to no fewer than thirty species, ranging from hamster mouse to
wolves,…(41),” writes Lunde. Later on in
the next chapter Darrin recounts the way Theodore was lured into the practice
of taxidermy by one John Bell, Aubudon’s field assistant out west.
By 1877 Roosevelt had a developed a keen enough sense of
the study of birds (ornithology) that he wrote The Summer Birds of the Adirondacks in Franklin County, N.Y. Strewn
together more like a pamphlet, the head of the U.S. Biological Survey Clinton
Merriam had high praise for the amateur work stating, “By far the best of these
recent lists which I have seen is that of The Summer Birds of the Adirondacks
in Franklin County, N.Y., by Theodorde Roosevelt and H.D. Minor. Though not redundant with information and
mentioning 97 species, it bears prima facie evidence of reliability (69-70).” By 1878 his father dies and this was a blow
not only to his life but also to his pursuit of naturalism, for his father
warned him that Theodore “must not dream of taking it up as a dilettante (73).”
Roosevelt’s passion for the outdoors led him even at the
time of his assuming the role of Vice President to head out to Colorado for
some game hunting. Lunde writes, “Just
weeks after he was sworn in,…he headed off for the wilds of northwestern
Colorado,…with the temperatures dipping to a dangerous eighteen degrees below
zero. Theodore was there to hunt
mountain lions…(159).” Roosevelt decided
that hunting mountain lions was of paramount importance since they caused a terrible
time for elks, which needed protecting.
Dismayed at the lack of writing and quality about the different kinds of
mountain lions, Theodore kept meticulous notes on these animals, as he did many
other species.
This is a fascinating book, jumping around to get at the
naturalist bent in Roosevelt’s life.
Thanks to Crown Books and Blogging for Books for the
copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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