palindrome using recursion

#include<iostream>
#include<string>
using namespace std;

bool palindrome(string word)
{
int length = word.length();

string first = word.substr(0,1);
string last = word.substr((length - 1), 1);

if (first == last)
{
word = word.substr((0 + 1), (length - 2));
if (word.length() <= 1) return true;
return palindrome(word);
}
else
return false;
}



int main()
{

string word;
cout<<"enter the string please\n";
cin>>word;
if (palindrome(word) == true)
cout << "word is a palindrome!" << endl;
else
cout << "word is not a palindrome..." << endl;
system("pause");
return 0;
}