Read by Jeff Webb

From acclaimed American historian and biographer Jeff Webb, essential listening for history buffs. Leading presidential historians and public opinion agree-Theodore Roosevelt was one of America's greatest presidents. Through this unique audio course, Professor Webb explores the reasons Roosevelt enjoys such widespread and enduring approval. As you listen to this engrossing 15-lecture audio series from Prof. Webb, you'll understand why Roosevelt's colorful personality and audacious leadership style so enthralled Americans in the early twentieth century and continue to fascinate us today. Roosevelt's years in office were marked by executive actions and policy measures that moved the institution along a new path and cemented its influence on the world stage. By stretching the boundaries of executive authority, Roosevelt inaugurated new practices that came to define the modern American presidency. In this compelling series, you'll examine Roosevelt's early life and political career before he unexpectedly found himself president, at age 42, following William McKinley's assassination in 1901. Then, you'll explore Roosevelt's presidency, noting instances where he blazed new trails for future presidents. A leader with inexhaustible energy and legendary charisma, Roosevelt's celebrity status represented a powerful shift in US political tradition. Join Prof. Webb to learn how Roosevelt shaped our collective idea of what a US president should be. This course is part of the Learn25 collection. Jeffrey B. Webb specializes in early American history and culture. A professor of history at Huntington University (Indiana),he received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.. His books, articles, and university-level courses traverse a wide range of fields in American history, including early American politics, twentieth-century environmental history, and history of American religious traditions. The recipient of numerous teaching and research awards, including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Prof. Webb served as the general editor for multi-volume encyclopedias on such diverse topics as American Myths, Legends, and Tall Tales and Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theories in American History. He is also the author of the Complete Idiot's Guide to Christianity and several scholarly articles on the impact of watershed redesign projects in America's rural communities. Over the course of his twenty-year career of research and teaching, he has written and lectured widely on the subject of colonial American politics and political culture, including presentations at the Beijing Institute of Technology, the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, and numerous colleges and research institutes throughout North America. Prof. Webb's recent article on the built environment and Quaker politics in early Pennsylvania appeared in the international academic journal Environment, Space, Place

Mode of access: World Wide Web