Amos, an African American, was initially hired by TR to look after his children while living in the White House. His job became much more than that and he traveled extensively with the President. The book is written from the perspective of a man who no doubt loved the President but there are insightful glimpses into the areas surrounding some of the most controversial events of the Roosevelt Administration, namely the Brownsville Incident and the White House dinner to which the President invited Booker T. Washington, the first African American to be entertained at the Executive Mansion. When TR was ailing near the end of his life, Mrs. Roosevelt asked Amos to return to their service, he did so and was with the Ex-President when he died at Sagamore Hill in 1919. He recorded TR's last words; "James, will you please put out the light."