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Wow! McCullough's "Truman" is a tour de force with brilliant vibrancy that helps bring Harry Truman's character to life.
David McCullough's work has almost everything one can wish for in a biography. After reading it, I feel as if I got to know Harry Truman personally. It is a rather voluminous book, covering Truman's childhood, early life, and extensive political career, but it is so gripping and readable you won't be able to put it down.As McCullough acknowledges, the writing of his outstanding work had been significantly facilitated by Truman himself: the President poured himself out on paper "with vigor and ca...
For some reason or another, I had to read this book in 3 days. It was like a full time job, considering it's about 3284293842034820384238 pages long. I did it though, and for about two months or so I was a motherfucking Harry Truman expert. Then I forgot almost everything.Anyway, if you want seem like a history encyclopedia for a little while, take a three-day weekend and rip this bad boy open. Maybe you'll get laid.(one word of caution: reading this gave me the temerity to say "mcarthur was a g...
Sometimes I even laughed...... Cheers for the late bloomers in life!!! A man after my own heart!!!Harry's cousin said Harry was 'always' a late bloomer. He did everything a little later than his contemporaries. He didn't marry until he was 35...so, why would it be crazy to him to first arrive in Washington in his early 50's? "Harry is a fine man, intelligent, able, and has integrity. He doesn't know much about foreign affairs, but he's learning fast..." --Franklin D RooseveltThis book gets the
I was shocked that a presidential biography could be so good. Many readers had praised the Truman book, but I thought they were exaggerating. I was happy to be proven wrong.I think there are several reasons why "Truman" was so compelling. First and most importantly was the man himself. So epic was his odyssey that Truman seemed like a character in a novel. Harry S. Truman was born in a small town in Missouri and he grew up on a farm. He was bookish, played the piano and wore glasses, which preve...
Excellent read for lining up all the threads of a great leader's life in a narrative that flows like the story from a novel. Even at 1,000 pages, so much history passed through Truman's hands that major events such as the decision to bomb Hiroshima and the Korean War have to slip by with only a few pages. What comes through as a thread in the whole tapestry is the fundamental decency of the man, a pragmatism typical of farmers who face diverse challenges day by day, and a core belief in fairness...
A good and complete biography of Truman. David McCullough describes well the political events surrounding the era and his climb to power – which was gradual but well earned. Truman was only two years younger than Roosevelt but in far better health. He was a vastly different person more prone to indiscretions. Even so he survived well in a turbulent era - the end of World War II, taking the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, the commencement of the Cold War, the creation of the state of I...
McCullough’s engaging portrayal of Harry Truman depicts a man of integrity, a trait rare in politicians. As president, his simple straightforward approach often led to extreme unpopularity. His inexperience and initial indecisiveness took its toll. But Harry Truman’s best quality as Clark Clifford noted, “was Harry Truman’s capacity to grow.” Thrust into a job for which he was ill prepared, Truman overcame his shortcomings working through an onslaught of difficult problems to provide genuine lea...
David McCullough is a master, plain and simple. Who else could make a 992 page paperback biography compulsively readable? I knew essentially nothing about Harry Truman before reading this biography, and now I think he might be my favorite president. Truly a man of the people, who never let the highest office in the country go to his head, Truman made difficult decisions that would have crippled other men within the first four months of his presidency. While not all of his policies were popular d...
https://bestpresidentialbios.com/2016...“Truman” is David McCullough’s 1992 biography of the 33rd president. It was the first comprehensive biography of Truman and earned the 1993 Pulitzer Prize in the Biography category. McCullough is a highly-acclaimed author and historian who is probably best known for his 2001 biography of John Adams. He is currently working on a book about the early settlers of the Northwest Territory tentatively titled “The Pioneers.”True to its reputation, this biography
I finished Truman!! It took me a month, but at 992 pages of text and over 120 pages of notes I think I did well.This is another 5 star book from one of my favorite authors. It ranks up there with his book John Adams, and I can certainly understand why it received the Pulitzer Prize.The book covers an astonishing array of subjects, Truman's heritage and childhood, his work as a farmer, his shaky rise as a senator and vice president, his astonishing first days as president, the atom bomb, dealings...