McCullough takes us on a beautifully guided tour of recent history--a journey that is as much a celebration of American experience as it is a captivating portrait of the ordinary 'man from Missouri' who became an extraordinary figure in the Cold War world. Keeping Truman himself always vividly in the foreground, Mr. McCullough has written a stirring, masterly, thoroughly absorbing book. <p> --Jean Strouse, author of Alice James: A Biography