A bully father

The Roosevelt family, with its rambunctious father and six children, invaded and occupied the White House as no other family has since. Theodore Roosevelt - whose wife once called him her "oldest and rather worst child" - was a marvelous father. Not only did he write constantly to his children, but he played with them, guided them, and loved them as do only the best fathers, famous or otherwise. Their lives together began at Sagamore Hill, their home in Oyster Bay on Long Island, and continued with equal gusto as they took up residence in the White House. A Bully Father features a terrific portfolio of photographs, some never before published, of the family at play. Roosevelt's letters have been considered by many a minor classic in American literature. Wonderfully wise, warm, and witty, they have long been out of print. The Evening Sun, in 1919, wrote: "These letters ... lift Roosevelt to a higher level of purely literary attainment than any of his other published writings. They are of tremendously absorbing interest from any angle or view."