“An ‘unlikely friendship’ has produced an unlikely volume, but one that should be most welcome on anyone’s history shelf. … Read the book with an open mind. It’s a welcome change from dry biography as you ponder the issue of cronyism vs. patriotism.” —Providence Sunday Journal

“An entertaining dual biography … Genius … If you’re a T.R. fan, you’ll find much to enjoy in these pages. Bishop has a gift for scene-setting and clear narratives that moves his principals along smartly. … The author’s meticulous research and vivid writing make The Lion and the Journalist a worthy addition to the big-shelf of books on America’s Progressive Era.” —Barnstable Patriot

“A revealing look at the relationship between two very different personalities joined by common belief and shared savviness about how the world works. … Bishop has put a real face on the Roosevelt popular caricature, and he has described, through the words of his forebear, the national life that we were living when America was deciding what it would grow up to be.” —Martha’s Vineyard Times

 
"Bishop does an excellent job illustrating the dynamics of the relationship ... and an exceptional job of showing how it strengthened and altered with the passage of time, changes in status, increased physical distance, etc. These are the external forces that shape long-term friendships, but they’re seldom explored so intimately and eloquently in biographies of men. The Lion and the Journalist covers a lot of ground. There’s publishing, politics, PR, and the Panama Canal. It’s an unusual historical mélange, but it’s riveting. It's also an especially rich entry into the genre of biographies about biographers and their subjects. For it was Bishop who penned the first biography of Roosevelt, laying the foundation from which all future biographers would begin."
—New Books in Biography

“An engaging tour of the busy intersection where history, politics, journalism, and power converge.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Bishop taps the enduring interest about TR and his associates. … Active TR collections will cheer Bishop’s addition to them.” —Booklist

“A long time coming but well worth the wait, this book elucidates the relationship between a president and a journalist that had important repercussions for both.”

—Tweed Roosevelt, great-grandson of Theodore Roosevelt and president of the Theodore Roosevelt Association

“An invaluable contribution to our understanding of Theodore Roosevelt. By chronicling the fascinating friendship between T. R. and journalist Joseph Bucklin Bishop, Chip Bishop identifies one of the central keys to T. R.'s success: his unparalleled ability to forge warm relationships with the members of the press even when they challenged and criticized him. Both figures are brought to vivid life in this compelling book.”

—Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize–winning author and presidential historian