SOURCE: "The Writings of Theodore Roosevelt," in Book Buyer, Vol. xviii, No. 1, 1899, pp. 5-10.

In the following essay, Johnston considers the varied subject matter of Roosevelt's writings.

As a man of action rather than a man of letters, Colonel Roosevelt has in our American year of 1898 appeared in the public eye. Some of his deeds have been so dramatic that when we come to view his books it will no doubt be difficult to place them in proper perspective. We cannot separate them from the man, whose character is stamped upon all their pages, of whose faults and virtues they partake, of whom, indeed, they have much to say; but by the association we should not be led to under-estimate their inherent value. If the man could maintain his place in the rough democracy of the frontier, where only the individual virtues find recognition, his books may not...