PositiveThe Washington PostRisen is a good storyteller, and his fast-paced narrative on the Rough Riders’ travails in Cuba—no other regiment in the Spanish-American War suffered as many casualties—makes The Crowded Hour, Roosevelt’s term for his regiment’s bloody struggles across the island, a gripping tale ... Roosevelt is the protagonist of this tale, but one of the most compelling features of The Crowded Hour is the attention paid to the mélange of characters who followed him in battle. Risen depicts the Rough Riders as representatives of modern America ... This \'blinkered view of American power . . . forged in [Roosevelt’s] experience with the Rough Riders\' is powerfully relevant at a time when the country is torn apart by competing visions of globalism and \'America First.\'
