The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America relates, among other things, how the great, green Republican president (1858-1919) created the preserve on our Olympic Peninsula that later came to bear his name. He first made it a national monument in 1909, a refuge for the herd of elk that also bears his name. Cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt upgraded it to a national park in 1938. An ardent hunter who nonetheless valued wilderness areas, TR helped make official the conservation movement of the early 20th century. Along the way, he created the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, befriended John Muir, and was instrumental in saving the American buffalo. Not a bad model for the currently struggling GOP to follow? That’s a likely argument from the prize-winning historian and author Brinkley, whose recent works include The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. BRIAN MILLER

Thu., Aug. 6, 7 p.m., 2009