According to Oxford Dictionary, the word, brave is defined as someone who shows courage, and the word, companion, is defined as a person or animal with whom one spends a lot of time with. Together, these two definitions define a brave companion as someone who shows courage with someone that they spend a lot of time with. And that is exactly what historian, David McCullough’s book, Brave Companion is about. There are 17 essays included in the book that profile men and women in the past and present, whom despite their variety of interests and achievements, had a lot in common. They each had a unique perspective that continues to influence us today. McCullough who is a skilled portraitist, is able to give his readers a vision of the real person, not their story that has been passed down as a result of publicity. The greatness of this book lies in the characters that McCullough brings to life, who all had their part in shaping the United States. Courage is obviously a common theme through many of the stories collected throughout Brave Companions. Courage is an unavoidable part of accomplishing what one desires. Theodore Roosevelt and Frederic Remington are both Brave Companions to each other, who both display courage in their love for the Old West.
Theodore Roosevelt and Frederic Remington quickly developed a deep love for the West and its disappearing world of cowboys, Indians, and open spaces. They both went to the West to capture it before it receded. Roosevelt spent his time in the Dakota Bad Lands, living the life of the cowboy and helping to create the myth of the "real West." He settled there in 1883 and built Elkhorn, a ranch, so he can write. After being troubled by both the death of his wife, and mother, his political career going nowhere, McCullough states that Roosevelt “craved change, craving release from everything in the East, everything in his past...he was bent on a new life in the open air.” (61) Meanwhile, Remington went to Kansas City to buy a sheep ranch and was also a saloon keeper. When all else failed, he traveled the West, endlessly drawing and painting what he saw.
Both the writings and drawings of Roosevelt and Remington tell us what the West was like. “It was out of the creative production of Roosevelt, Wister, and Remington---three Easterners---that a heroic vision of the Wild West emerged to claim the popular imagination as the nineteenth century was about to end; and it was in the East, in comfortable surroundings, that their important work was done.” (77) “Seeing themselves as joined in common cause, they encouraged, advised, and complimented one another.” (76) They didn't give up on the West while they were in the East. Roosevelt continued to write about his adventures in the West in his house in Sagmore Hill. Even with his popularity as an illustrator, Remington was never away long from the West. This gave him the opportunity to closely observe his favorite subjects.
Both Theodore Roosevelt and Frederic Remington were brave companions. They were alike in many ways, sharing a love for the same thing. Even with all of their successes in life, there was another part of them that no one really knew, unless they knew them personally. Publicity and rumors always put bad images around famous people, and in Brave Companions, McCullough allows the reader to gain an insight of two important men in history, not for what they were known for, but for who they were.