The Author Daniel Henderson says in this book: “The duty of a biographer is to record and not to speculate,”. I am not sure that this is a valid assumption or that it is possible to remove the author or the reader from some sort of speculation, because speculation seems to be part of human intellect. Speculation is also part of the process that creates folklore. Sometimes third party hearsay speculation wrongly finds it's way into books as facts. The main problem with speculation occurs when speculation is wrongly taken as being a fact. Two of many ways that this can happen are the author not making himself clear or reader misunderstanding.
 
It appears that after the death of TR in January of 1919 that there was a public demand for information about the life of TR. This seems to be evidenced by the number of books by various authors in 1919. Some of these books have been rejected for use by this web site because of gross information errors. One example is Eugene Bank and Leroy Armstrong’s, "A typical American" in which they have TR attending public school and having TR's mother dying one year after his wife. When errors occur everything the author writes becomes suspect and history becomes blurred. This is one of the reasons TR insisted upon accuracy from anyone that would attempt to write history and why any document TR touched has a high degree of accuracy.
 
TR did not like to use footnotes because he thought they were distracting. For someone like TR with the mental capacity to store and recall detail, accuracy and misleading statements in his published work is not an issue. Less skilled authors that rely upon few sources and deadlines that shorten the hours required for accuracy are in a different league than TR.
 
I do not reject a book because it is not completely accurate.  Sometimes the errors may be minor or sometimes the items in question only differ from what other authors have stated and it cannot be determined which author has the correct version or if both versions are merely folklore. In this particular book I have tried something different by adding a “web site note” a sort of footnote to make the reader aware of a possible problem. You may do a word search for “web site” to find these questionable areas. I have not the time to do this with all the books and do not claim that I have the TR capacity for detail required to document all possible historical errors. This is another area of web site jobs that someone could take up if they wish to contribute.
 
Overall I like this book even though it has flaws. Hopefully the most egregious have been denoted by web site notes.  The introduction is done by Leonard Wood, a close personal friend of TR that was aware of TR’s demand for historical accuracy. This is the first book that I have read that mentions Francis Parkman as a possible influence upon TR. Speculation has its place in historical books as long as it is denoted as such. Speculation is the mother of discovery as necessity is the mother of invention.
 
Rudyard Kipling was a favorite author of TR. The following poem also chosen as the title of this book tells what Kipling saw in TR. 
 
Great-Heart
Theodore Roosevelt
 
"The interpreter then called for a man-servant of his, one Great-Heart." -- Bunyan's' Pilgrim's Progess.
 
Concerning brave Captains
  Our age hath made known
For all men to honour,
  One standeth alone,
Of whom, o'er both oceans,
  Both peoples may say:
"Our realm is diminished
  With Great-Heart away."
 
In purpose unsparing,
  In action no less,
The labours he praised
  He would seek and profess
Through travail and battle,
  At hazard and pain.  .  .  .
And our world is none the braver
  Since Great-Heart was ta'en!
 
Plain speech with plain folk,
  And plain words for false things,
Plain faith in plain dealing
  'Twixt neighbours or kings,
He used and he followed,
  However it sped.  .  .  .
Oh,  our  world  is  none  more  honest
  Now Great-Heart is dead!
 
The heat of his spirit
  Struck warm through all lands;
For he loved such as showed
  'Emselves men of their hands;
In love, as in hate,
  Paying home to the last.  .  .  .
But our world is none the kinder
  Now Great-Heart hath passed!
 
Hard-schooled by long power,
  Yet most humble of mind
Where aught that he was
  Might advantage mankind.
Leal servant, loved master,
  Rare comrade, sure guide.  .  .  .
Oh, our world is none the safer
  Now Great-Heart hath died!
 
Let those who would handle
  Make sure they can wield
His far-reaching sword
  And his close-guarding shield:
For those who must journey
  Henceforward alone
Have need of stout convoy
  Now Great-Heart is gone.