First| Previous| Up| Next| Last
Truman (1992)
Front Cover Book Details
Genre Biography; Non-Fiction
Subject Presidents - United States - Biography; Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972
Publication Date 6/15/1992
Format Hardcover (9.3 x 6.5 mm)
Publisher Simon & Schuster
Language English
Extras Dust Jacket; Dust Jacket Cover
Personal Details
Acquire Date 6/10/2010
Condition Very Good/Very Good
Rating 0
Links Library of Congress
Product Details
LoC Classification E814 .M26 1992
Dewey 973.918092
ISBN 9780671456542
Cover Price $30.00
No. of Pages 1120
First Edition No
Rare No
Notes/Review
Possibly first edition, 11th printing

Inscribed:
Feb 7, 1993
To Charles with love on your big "70". Love Katie

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a very thorough telling of the life of a great president.

Having recently read a number of books about the Truman years from a variety of perspectives, I was prepared to dislike Truman for his shortcomings. And I fully expected McCullough to provide a favorable view of his subject, as most biographers tend to do, glossing over or excusing their subjects failures and misdeeds. In spite of applying these "filters", I can't help but come away from this book with an improved opinion of Truman. I won't use superlatives in describing the book or the writing, but I think it did do what was intended: tell us who Truman was and what he did.

Some presidents are great men, some are great presidents. I say that Truman was a great president but more of a common man. McCullough tells us what was uncommon about him, but at the same time reinforces Truman's everyman nature.

Truman led us through some very rough times and did it very well. I am a big critic of what was done in the early days of the Cold War and have for a long time thought that big mistakes and missteps were made. I still think that, but now believe that, perhaps, Truman made the best decisions he could make, given the circumstances.

It was McCullough's Adams book that started me down the path of reading whole-life biographies of our presidents, in the order they served. I didn't have that plan when I picked up that book, but that book sparked an interest in Jefferson which in turn led me to Madison and Monroe. And here I am, at Truman. It has been 16 or 17 years since reading his Adams book, and I wasn't writing these reviews back then. I want to say that book was somewhat better than this one, but that's probably not a fair statement. The Adams book started me on a journey of years and thus, I think, stands outsized in my memory.

In any event, I found this book well-written, deeply researched, complete, and pretty fair to its subject.