Roosevelt's Boys

John Horst traces the adventures of a cast of characters, both real and fictional, who answered the call to put things right in Cuba: Theodore Roosevelt, redefining himself as a soldier and war leader; Jonathan Whelihan, the Arizona wrangler, hungry to prove himself and gain freedom from the bonds of an overbearing father; Rocky Killebrew, Jonathan’s adopted brother, struggling with a proclivity for strong drink; Nurse Clara Maass, seeking adventure and fulfillment while serving God and country, and many of the historical personages of this larger-than-life history—Bucky O’Neill, William McGinty, and Black Jack Pershing, among others. John Hay called it “a splendid little war,” but Roosevelt’s Boys brings to bear that no war is little, or splendid, regardless of duration or scale.