"Roosevelt the Reformer covers an often overlooked yet fascinating period of Theodore Roosevelt's life, his first six years in Washington. This was an important period in which Roosevelt matured politically and learned how to navigate Washington politics.

He sparred with powerful cabinet officers and congressmen, cultivated important friendships and allegiances, flourished intellectually, and strengthened his progressive views of social justice, racial theory, and foreign relations. It was a period altogether significant to the honing of the administrative talent and intellectual acuity of the future president."

"Richard White Jr. situates young Roosevelt within the exciting events of the Gilded Age, the Victorian era, and the gay nineties. He describes Roosevelt's relationships with family, friends, colleagues, and adversaries.

Many of these people, such as Henry Cabot Lodge, Cecil Spring-Rice, Alfred Mahan, Henry Adams, and John Hay, would influence Roosevelt when he later occupied the White House. White explores TR's accomplishments in civil service reform, the effect of the commission experience on his presidency a decade later, and his administrative legacy."--Jacket.