MixedThe Wall Street Journal...eminently readable ... Mr. Risen...is on shakier ground when he argues that the Rough Riders created the template for America’s dedication in the 20th century to forging out into the world in search of monsters to destroy. He is right to point out that journalists’ reports of the 1898 campaign to take Santiago do indeed echo those of America’s early forays into South Vietnam in the 1960s and the invasion of Iraq in the early 2000s. Yet baked into this nation from its inception has been the optimistic idea that America would not only wrest greatness out of its own land but also lead the world by its shining example ... But the Rough Riders did help crystallize the American warrior spirit—a brand of cheerful idealism and meritocratic patriotism—at a time when the U.S. was awakening to look hard beyond its borders. San Juan Hill gave Americans a thrill, the same way Daniel Boone did.