author
Kermit Roosevelt
1889–1943
An adventurous writer and explorer, he traveled through Africa and South America with his father, Theodore Roosevelt, and later wrote about those journeys from firsthand experience. His life also included military service in both world wars, giving his work an unusual mix of travel, action, and personal history.
3 Audiobooks
War in the Garden of Eden
by Kermit Roosevelt
The Happy Hunting-Grounds
by Kermit Roosevelt
East of the sun and west of the moon
by Theodore Roosevelt, Kermit Roosevelt
About the author
Born in 1889, he was the second son of Theodore Roosevelt and grew up in a family that prized curiosity, endurance, and public service. He studied at Groton and Harvard, then quickly built a life shaped by travel and languages. He became closely associated with two major expeditions with his father: the 1909 African safari and the 1913–1914 South American journey that explored the River of Doubt in Brazil.
Alongside his work in business and government service, he was also a writer whose books drew on real adventure. His best-known works include The Happy Hunting-Grounds, about the African expedition, and War in the Garden of Eden, based on his service in the Middle East during World War I. That direct experience gave his writing an immediacy that still appeals to readers interested in exploration, history, and memoir.
His later years were marked by further military service during World War II and by serious personal struggles. He died in Alaska in 1943 at the age of 53. Today, he is remembered not only as Theodore Roosevelt's son, but as a vivid figure in his own right: an explorer, soldier, and author who lived an unusually full and restless life.