Stacy Cordery, associate professor of history at Monmouth College, has completed a biography on Theodore Roosevelt that is scheduled for publication this summer by Wadsworth Press.

Entitled “Theodore Roosevelt: In the Vanguard of the Modern,” the book is an appropriate core or supplementary text for U.S. history survey and 20th century U.S. history courses, as well as for upper level courses on the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era. It is the fifth volume of the “Creators of the American Mind” series.

Cordery said her interest in Roosevelt stems from her graduate school studies at the University of Texas.

“My professor, Lewis Gould, just made Roosevelt and the whole Progressive Era come alive,” she said. “Roosevelt began the discussion on things that we’re still talking about today – things like government’s role in big business, our country’s role in world affairs and even diet and exercise. He believed we each should have a sound mind and a sound body. He also believed in the bully pulpit – that being the President made him the moral leader of the country.

Cordery, who has twice been selected as Monmouth College’s Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year, also offered up some “TR” trivia.

“No one ever called him Teddy, at least no one who ever knew him. It’s Theodore Roosevelt.”

According to Cordery, the book breaks down into three parts. “One-third of the book focuses on primary documents – his contemporary critics, cartoons of the time and newspaper accounts; one-third is a showcase of the best historical writings of Roosevelt and his time; and one-third is my analytical narrative,” she said.

The book’s reviews have been favorable. Said Louisiana Tech University’s Stephen Webre, “(the book) presents a well-realized portrait of Theodore Roosevelt and it builds a convincing case for the thesis that he was not only ‘in the vanguard of the modern,’ but also a ‘maker of the American mind.’”

Cordery has published widely on the Roosevelts, including articles on Theodore’s daughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, and Theodore’s wife, Edith Kermit Roosevelt. She is currently completing a biography on Longworth entitled “The Other Washington Monument: The Life of Alice Roosevelt Longworth.”

In addition to her writing, Cordery has been named the bibliographer for the National First Ladies Library Web site. She is also the book review editor for H-Women, an H-Net listserv for women’s historians, and is co-founder and faculty advisor for H-HistMajor, a listserv for undergraduate history majors.