BOOKS - Mark Twain and the Colonel

S-2/2    Mark Twain and the Colonel, and the Arrival of a New Century  2012.  Phillip McFarland.

Of course, it is Theodore Roosevelt that is "The Colonel".  I would never have thought to compare them, their lives, their politics or their writings.  I would have been dead wrong.  This is an exceptionally well done book.  (Confession:  I am only about 300 pages in with another 125 yet to go, but it just keeps getting better and tighter as I read).

McFarland himself appears fascinating.  Born in 1930, in America's deep South (Alabama) he is still alive with numerous non-fiction books to his credit, as well as at least 2 novels.  Education was Oberlin and Cambridge University.  His writing is meticulous in detail but has yet to be "boggy" or slow.  I tend to "skim" ... but not this book.  

I really thought there could be too much "Teddy".  I was wrong again.  Having read "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" gave me a succinct foundation for getting into this book.   Probably not necessary but that, too, was well worth the time spent.  The quandary now is do I add another of McFarland's books to my reading table ahead of or behind the next two Roosevelt books (and Zane Grey's fishing books).  

This is history and a great comparison of how their worlds crossed paths but never really on the same road ... at least not yet in the book.