Book Review: Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail by Theodore Roosevelt

Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail
with 83 illustrations by Frederic Remington
by Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt was quite a prolific author, producing several dozen books during his lifetime.  As he died quite a while ago there isn't an active copyright on his volumes, the one I'm reviewing here is one you can actually read for free online at the Internet Archive, though it looks like the artwork wasn't uploaded.

The copy I own is one I found at a library sale in Cincinnati in 2018.  It was published by the University of Nebraska Press and is a good edition from all that I can tell.  The original book was published in 1883 and the first copy of this edition was published in 1983, so almost a century later.

Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail describes Roosevelt's routine labor and extraordinary adventures, including a stint as a deputy sheriff pursuing three horse thieves through the cold of winter.  Whether recounting stories of cowboy fights or describing his hunting of elk, antelope, and bear, the book expresses his lifelong delight in physical hardihood and tests of nerve.
--from back cover copy

While the illustrations are in black and white they are an excellent complement to the text.  Some are small and others are relatively large.  There are even a few that take up an entire page, but most of the larger ones are about this size.

The stories are definitely dated, with all of the author's original beliefs and wording intact.  Roosevelt was definitely not a terrible person from everything I've read, but at times he was also a creature of his times.  Lands populated by Native Americans were "wilderness" that only counted as explored if another white man had ventured through them.  Wolves were creatures to be hunted down.  However, don't let that stop you from checking out this book.  It is a series of true adventures that illustrate the rough-and-tumble life on the frontier, even at the relatively late date of the 1880s when Roosevelt ranched in Dakota Territory (land now occupied by Theodore Roosevelt National Park, which I hope to be blogging about later this year).  Roosevelt not only owned the ranch, but he also pitched in and worked the cattle drives, hunting, and other necessary tasks.  He describes a number of hunts, some of which were for trophies, but mostly were to provide provisions for ranch hands.

If you enjoy first-person historical narratives or want to learn more about Theodore Roosevelt in his own words then definitely check out this book.  It isn't terribly long, but isn't too short either.  You'll definitely be left with a taste for the West and for Roosevelt's outlook on life by the time you finish.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Summary: A first person narrative of ranching life and hunting trips from Theodore Roosevelt's years ranching in the American West.
Technical: Softcover, 187 pages, includes all 83 advertised illustrations.

~Matt