The Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Harry S. Truman, whose presidency included momentous events from the atomic bombing of Japan to the outbreak of the Cold War and the Korean War, told by America’s beloved and distinguished historian.
The life of Harry S. Truman is one of the greatest of American stories, filled with vivid characters—Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Wallace Truman, George Marshall, Joe McCarthy, and Dean Acheson—and dramatic events. In this riveting biography, acclaimed historian David McCullough not only captures the man—a more complex, informed, and determined man than ever before imagined—but also the turbulent times in which he rose, boldly, to meet unprecedented challenges. The last president to serve as a living link between the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, Truman’s story spans the raw world of the Missouri frontier, World War I, the powerful Pendergast machine of Kansas City, the legendary Whistle-Stop Campaign of 1948, and the decisions to drop the atomic bomb, confront Stalin at Potsdam, send troops to Korea, and fire General MacArthur. Drawing on newly discovered archival material and extensive interviews with Truman’s own family, friends, and Washington colleagues, McCullough tells the deeply moving story of the seemingly ordinary “man from Missouri” who was perhaps the most courageous president in our history.
By:
David McCullough
Imprint: Simon & Schuster
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 235mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 48mm
Weight: 1.084kg
ISBN: 9780671869205
ISBN 10: 0671869205
Pages: 1117
Publication Date: 15 August 1993
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
CONTENTS Part One -- SON OF THE MIDDLE BORDER 1. Blue River Country 2. Model Boy 3. The Way of the Farmer 4. Soldier Part Two -- POLITICIAN 5. Try, Try Again 6. The Senator from Pendergast 7. Patriot 8. Numbered Days Part Three -- TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY 9. The Moon, the Stars, and All the Planets 10. Summer of Decision Part Four -- MR. PRESIDENT 11. The Buck Stops Here 12. Turning Point 13. The Heat in the Kitchen 14. Fighting Chance Part Five -- WEIGHT OF THE WORLD 15. Iron Man 16. Commander in Chief 17. Final Days Part Six -- BACK HOME 18. Citizen Truman ACKNOWLEDGMENTS SOURCE NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX
Reviews for Truman
A gargantuan but surprisingly agile and spellbinding biography of the plain-speaking, plain-dealing Man from Missouri. As depicted by McCullough (Brave Companions, 1991, etc.), Truman, though the first President of the nuclear era, was fundamentally a throwback to 19th-century midwestern ideals of honesty. Like the young Teddy Roosevelt in the author's Mornings on Horseback (1981), the pre-Presidential Truman most impresses McCullough as a battler against overwhelming odds: the failed farmer and haberdasher; the WW I captain who kept his unit together under deadly fire; and the scorned product of the Kansas City machine who won Senate colleagues' respect by chairing an investigation into WW II defense spending and winning a ferocious primary contest. With the stage thus set, the narrative picks up whirlwind force, following Truman from his assumption of the Presidency upon FDR's death - when the sun, the moon, and the stars seemed ready to fall on him - through the decisions to drop the atomic bomb; confront Stalin at Potsdam; send troops to Korea (the most important decision of his Presidency, Truman felt); and fire MacArthur. The book's main event, however, is the legendary Whistle-Stop Campaign of 1948, when Truman puffed off the political upset of the century. Readers jaded by Vietnam and Watergate may ask: Could any President be this serene, honest, and courageous? Yet McCullough weaves his spell, convincingly limning a politician who didn't lie, steal, pay attention to pollsters or pundits, or quail in the face of diplomatic or political combat (his major fault seems to have been excessive loyalty to cronies who betrayed his trust). Truman apparently really was, as his Secretary of State Dean Acheson said, the captain with the mighty heart. Rich in detail, enthralling, and moving: a classic Presidential biography. (Kirkus Reviews)
- Winner of Pulitzer Prize Biography Category 1993
- Winner of Pulitzer Prize Biography Category 1993.
