Mike Resnick,
The Other Teddy Roosevelts
(Subterranean Press, 2008)


No one can argue the fact that every president somehow manages to miss dozens of opportunities. Through Mike Resnick's collection of stories, The Other Teddy Roosevelts, at least one of these historic men gets the chance to make up for it.

Seven alternate histories may seem a small number of scenarios to relive in comparison to the array of events and adventures taken on by the real Teddy Roosevelt (which Resnick is far from excluding from this homage to his favorite president). However, the range of Resnick's imagination not only allows Teddy to reverse certain historic decisions, but also places him in situations the original never encountered. From his debut as a detective tracking Jack the Ripper to waging a war against hostile aliens, Resnick's version of Teddy Roosevelt cuts a dashing and heroic figure.

As an anthology of separate stories, certain ideas and phrases issue forth rather repetitively from Roosevelt, and they combine with the unwavering conviction that Americanism and heroism are the only things to live for to create a shtick that may prove tiresome if consumed too quickly. But for an entertaining and often insightful way to pass the time, this book offers everything a reader could wish for: a change from the ordinary, an intriguing outlook on life and a hero who can be counted on to stick to his guns, or at least carry a big stick.




Rambles.NET
review by
Whitney Mallenby

9 February 2008


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