Description:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. (Theodore Roosevelt from a speech at the Sorbonne in 1910)
Theodore Roosevelt was transformed by the time he spent as a young man in the American west and he went on to return the favor, transforming the American west in his image. The author of 40 books, Roosevelt was among the most intellectually prepared presidents, which was coupled with the physical prowess of a strenuous man. He embodied his prescription for the country that of living the strenuous life.
Roosevelt is portrayed by Clay Jenkinson, an Oxford-educated humanities scholar, author, social commentator and, now, documentary maker, who is deeply involved in preserving the legacy, celebrating the idiosyncrasies and interpreting the wisdom of the 26th president in our day.
