Barnes & NobleTeddy and Booker T.- How Two American Icons Blazed a Path for Racial Equality by Brian Kilmeade

Excellent - Learned a Lot!

Teddy and Booker T. by Brian Kilmeade What could a wealthy man who would one day become president of the USA and a poor black man born in slavery have in common? Well, a whole lot more than you might ever imagine! This book is a well-written, fluid, biography of two men well known in history. I had a bit of knowledge about both men but this book, well, it opened my eyes and made the two men come alive as I read. I sometimes think we have come “a long way” and then read books like this and do see change but also see that there is still oppression, bias, bigotry and cruelty over a century after the civil war. So, what did these two men have in common? Drive, ambition, wanting better for others, the willingness to reach out and make things happen for themselves and for others. They both revered education and the spoken and written word. They wanted to see the betterment of the fellow man. BUT, they were also men of their era and influenced by the beliefs of their times. Both men lost women they loved, gave much to become who they were, and became symbols of their era that live on today. The author managed to make both men come alive through his writing and made me see them, experience some of what they did, and come away with admiration for both men. I also was happy to NOT live back then when medical science was less than it is now and women and children (and perhaps men, too) died too young. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Teddy Roosevelt and/or Booker T. Washington because this book is easy reading with information that is relevant now while telling the stories of two great men of the past. Thank you to NetGalley and Sentinel – Penguin Random House for the ARC – this is my honest review. 5 Stars