"Keep your eyes on the stars and keep your feet on the ground" reads a plaque near the gravesite of Theodore Roosevelt, America's 26th president. During his tumultuous seven and a half years in the White House, Roosevelt boasted that his administration had combined ideals and reality to take a leading role in maintaining global peace.

In this book, the late Howard Jones, one of the most distinguished historians of American foreign relations of his generation, highlights the path to peace that Roosevelt had begun to develop shortly before becoming president and tried to implement throughout his White House tenure. For his efforts to end the Russo-Japanese War, he was the first American, and one of only two twentieth century presidents, to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. By exploring the influence of Roosevelt's private life on his public service, Jones presents a broader understanding that will appeal to readers beyond specialists in US foreign relations.