The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt

The Women Who Created a President

By: Edward F. O'Keefe

Narrated by: Edward F. O'Keefe

Winner of the 2025 Audie Award for History/Biography

Includes an exclusive audio postscript featuring archival recordings of the voices of the Roosevelts, including Theodore (one of the first US presidents to have his voice captured on audio), Eleanor, Edith, Corinne, and Alice.

An “elegant and illuminating” (Jon Meacham) family love story, revealing how an icon of rugged American masculinity was profoundly shaped by the women in his life, especially his mother, sisters, and wives.

Theodore Roosevelt wrote in his senior thesis for Harvard in 1880 that women ought to be paid equal to men and have the option of keeping their maiden names upon marriage. It’s little surprise he’d be a feminist, given the women he grew up with.

His mother, Mittie, was witty and decisive, a Southern belle raising four young children in New York while her husband spent long stretches away with the Union Army. Theodore’s college sweetheart and first wife, Alice—so vivacious she was known as Sunshine—steered her beau away from science (he’d roam campus with taxidermy specimens in his pockets) and towards politics. Older sister Bamie would soon become her brother’s key political strategist and advisor; journalists called her Washington, DC, home “the Little White House.” Younger sister Conie served as her brother’s press secretary before the role existed, slipping stories of his heroics in Cuba and his rambunctious home life to reporters to create the legend of the Rough Rider we remember today. And Edith—Theodore’s childhood playmate and second wife—would elevate the role of presidential spouse to an American institution, curating both the White House and her husband’s legacy.

A “graceful and powerful book” (Candice Millard) filled with “meticulous research [and] perceptive insights” (The New York Times), The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt celebrates these five extraordinary yet unsung women who opened the door to the American Century and pushed Theodore Roosevelt through it.

Critic reviews

“Edward F. O’Keefe has given us an elegant and illuminating account of the human side of one of the most consequential Americans in our history. By detailing Theodore Roosevelt's emotional connections to the women in his life, O’Keefe reminds us that leaders are not made of marble but of heart and flesh. This is a wonderful book.”
—Jon Meacham, New York Times bestselling author of And There Was Light

“A graceful, powerful book that lets us into the lives of the remarkable women who shaped an extraordinary man. If you want to truly understand Theodore Roosevelt, this book is an essential guide.”
—Candice Millard, New York Times bestselling author of River of Doubt

“With meticulous research... [and] perceptive insights... O’Keefe has performed a most valuable service by reminding us how much Theodore Roosevelt, the most virile of presidents, owed to the brilliant women in his life.”
—The New York Times

““It is not only feasible but advisable to make women equal to men before the law,” Theodore Roosevelt wrote as a Harvard senior, anticipating suffrage by 40 years. The sentiment was consonant with the life, one shaped, advised, fortified, and energized by women. O’Keefe assembles that extraordinary cast here, nimbly cataloguing the strategic, transformative power of Roosevelt’s mother, daughter, sisters, and wives, all of them complicit, to different and often remarkable degrees, in TR’s meteoric career.”
— Stacy Schiff, New York Times bestselling author of The Revolutionary

“The language is beautiful… and seeing Theodore’s life through the lens of his female family members gives it an intimacy sorely missed in many other biographies.”
—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“An extraordinary portrait of the women who nurtured, advised, and propelled one of America’s most compelling leaders. The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt is history unearthed and more fully understood, at last.”
—Susan Page, New York Times bestselling author of The Matriarch

“Entertaining…. [O’Keefe] celebrates [these extraordinary women’s] devotion, skills and accomplishments. In doing so, he leads us to a better understanding of an equally extraordinary man.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“O’Keefe presents a perceptive and persuasive argument that adds a sensitive dimension to the masculine persona of Theodore Roosevelt.”
—Washington Independent Review of Books

“Forget all that Rough Rider stuff; Roosevelt was a mushy romantic at his core, and… also quite progressive, which is another pleasant shocker in this very fine book.”
—Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan

A fresh take on TR

This is a fantastic story told from the viewpoint of the many women behind the man. Wonderfully researched and flows so well. I could not stop listening! The author narrates and has a wonderful voice. (We all know that narrated books live and die with the speaker!) I love reading Presidential biographies and while I have only read the McCullough book on TR, this one has me intrigued to read more about this great President. Also of note: The Roosevelt family recordings at the end were a fabulous bonus. Highly recommend!

Interesting perspective on TR

I enjoyed the angle of examine the role of the important women in Roosevelt’s life in forming the man and the president. I thought the narration was a little dry.

Wonderful book on T.R.

This book is so well researched and well written you feel like you are right there with the Roosevelt family living each moment. I could not stop listening !!

Interesting Look at the Women Behind TR!

Thoroughly enjoyed this one! I didn't know much about the women in Teddy Roosevelt's life (aside from the fact that his first wife and mother died at practically the same time), so this was a great introduction to them (and an interesting look at TR). Would definitely recommend - it didn't feel dry or like a lecture.

Brilliant book and fascinating listen!

I loved everything! Thank you for acknowledging the women so beautifully! What a beautiful read!