Reactions to Russian literature

Can you guess who wrote:

“Tolstoy is a great writer.  Do you notice how he never comments on the actions of his personages?  He relates what they thought or did without any remark whatever as to whether it was good or bad, as Thucydides wrote history…”

Well, the answer (if you haven’t googled it yet) might surprise you.  It was a 19th century cattle rancher in the Wild West (the Dakota territory) who later achieved fame as the 26th President of the United States.  They have even named an island after him, right across the Potomac river from the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., which should not be confused with another island of the same name in New York City that was named after someone completely different, though he also was also a President of the U.S.