Truman
by David McCullough
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Read in December, 2004
This is a brilliant book about one of our finest
David McCullough's "Truman" has won many accolades and awards, chief among them the Pulitzer Prize. After reading this wonderful book from cover-to-cover in less than a week, I'm convinced that this book deserves all of the praise it has received, and more.
"Truman" is the ultimate, complete package in a presidential biography. Even a novice of 20th century history (this writer included) would have a list of important eve...more
David McCullough's "Truman" has won many accolades and awards, chief among them the Pulitzer Prize. After reading this wonderful book from cover-to-cover in less than a week, I'm convinced that this book deserves all of the praise it has received, and more.
"Truman" is the ultimate, complete package in a presidential biography. Even a novice of 20th century history (this writer included) would have a list of important eve...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
Any fan of American politics/history
Average American, common soldier, great president. These are the impressions I take away from McCullough's biography on Harry S Truman. Unappreciated and misjudged by most of his contemporaries, and though naive at times, Truman was the last great American president.
Harry's involvement in politics is mostly by accident, though the political machines did get in right with him. Every person knew where they stood with Truman and the man worked his tail off for whatever he believed in, and ...more
Harry's involvement in politics is mostly by accident, though the political machines did get in right with him. Every person knew where they stood with Truman and the man worked his tail off for whatever he believed in, and ...more
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Read in August, 2008
It took my a long time to read this book. It's long (992 pages in the paperback edition, not including notes, acknowledgments and so forth), and I'm a slow reader. And I kept getting interrupted by annoying things, such as work.
But I always looked forward to picking it up. I think what makes it such a vibrant biography is the astonishing use of little details.
Did it have to be quite so long? I don't think so. As fascinating as the 1948 election was, the section about it became repetitive. I ...more
But I always looked forward to picking it up. I think what makes it such a vibrant biography is the astonishing use of little details.
Did it have to be quite so long? I don't think so. As fascinating as the 1948 election was, the section about it became repetitive. I ...more
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
American History buffs
I listened to this book on my ipod while in the car or working out over many, many months. The unabridged version is an 8 part audiobook that plays for over 53 hours. The narrator is superb, if you like audiobooks, but I am sure the print version is great too. It did win a Pulitzer prize!
Truman's story is fascinating for so many reasons. First and foremost, the time period during which he came to power is chock full of some of the most incredible events in the 20th century - WWI (where H...more
Truman's story is fascinating for so many reasons. First and foremost, the time period during which he came to power is chock full of some of the most incredible events in the 20th century - WWI (where H...more
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Read in December, 2007
This guy is the fucking man. Truman personifies every quality that George W. wishes he had: A down-to-earth, grass-roots, whiskey-for-breakfast, tart-tongued, no-frills, no-nonsense friend-of-the-working-man. Strutting around in his tweed suit and bow-tie on his populist whistle-stop tours, tossing out clipped witty quips and endearing little southern proverbs that perfectly illustrate the point that he's making, he was one of the sweetest we've had in the 20th century (at a pretty fucking ...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
history buffs, everyone
Oh, yes, I am ambitious. This book must be 1000 pages. It's huge... and interesting so far. And it won a Pulitzer. I'm reading it because McCullough's bio of John Adams made me bawl like a baby when I got near the end. I mean-- how can one not cry upon reading about Adams and Jefferson BOTH living until and dying on July 4th, the same July 4th, out of sheer will? I wish more Americans and people in general knew these stories and of these people rather than just knowing a lot of fiction. And I do...more
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Read in June, 2008
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 popul...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
History readers.
Truman was the kind of man who couldn't be elected President today and (as Mr. Truman might put it) it’s a damn shame.
There is much about this man that is part of the public persona: he was humble, hardworking, loyal, and his language was plain and colorful. He is known as the president who authorized use of the A-bomb. But what may come as a surprise, should you read this book, is that he is also a man who was extremely considerate, sensitive, and quiet. And with his restraint, he assure...more
There is much about this man that is part of the public persona: he was humble, hardworking, loyal, and his language was plain and colorful. He is known as the president who authorized use of the A-bomb. But what may come as a surprise, should you read this book, is that he is also a man who was extremely considerate, sensitive, and quiet. And with his restraint, he assure...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
History buffs--especially members of the Democratic Party
David McCullough is very, very, VERY thorough. I gave myself permission to skim through and skip portions of Truman's WWI service and really was not interested in Truman's post-presidency existence, but what was in between was informative and worthwhile. The details of the Democratic political machines, the way Truman rose through the ranks as a rare person of integrity, the ways that his loyalties were part of his strength as well as his most annoying shortcoming, how the decisions to drop the ...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
history buffs
It is a pretty exhaustive biography but so real. That is what I love about McCullough books, he brings his historical characters to life. It is a quick read but only when I find to to read it.
I finally finished this epic biography. It was pretty exhausting and I actually read some other books to just take a break. What I loved about Truman was how relevant it was with today's political situation. It was so easy to find parallels between our current president and Truman even though they ...more
I finally finished this epic biography. It was pretty exhausting and I actually read some other books to just take a break. What I loved about Truman was how relevant it was with today's political situation. It was so easy to find parallels between our current president and Truman even though they ...more
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Read in June, 2008
David McCullough is a fabulous writer. I loved reading this book. Enjoyed just about every page -- detailed war tactical descriptions aside (I never really get into that). Interesting, we get a lot more of Truman's mistakes than we did of John Adams, but I think that might be more the result of the available raw material -- more first person accounts from more players. Or it could be that Truman just had more mistakes to make -- I never really thought about how many different things the leaders ...more
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I'm getting to be a big fan of David McCullough. His books are about the only non-fiction books you'll probably see me review here, but he makes his biography's so darn readable that my brain can not only handle, but enjoy what he is putting down.
According to McCullough, Truman wrote an amazing number of personal letters and and kept a daily journal which made this biography a very intimate look at what it is like to be President. Beyond just looking at the man that Truman was, I recommend...more
According to McCullough, Truman wrote an amazing number of personal letters and and kept a daily journal which made this biography a very intimate look at what it is like to be President. Beyond just looking at the man that Truman was, I recommend...more
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This is a biography written about Harry S. Truman. Excellent for a biography. Some have found biographies to be boring. For a biography, this is not boring. I listed to this bio on tape. This tape discusses simple facts, such as Truman’s middle initial meaning nothing more that “S.” Additionally, one learns of his life before presidency and the information pasted below.
During his few weeks as Vice President, Harry S Truman scarcely saw President Roosevelt, and received no briefing o...more
During his few weeks as Vice President, Harry S Truman scarcely saw President Roosevelt, and received no briefing o...more
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recommends it for:
history geeks.
This book is incredibly long! Immensely long! I listened to the audiobook and the audiobook is 58 hours! That is a long time! I listened to this book for 2 hours every day and it still took my a whole month to listen to this book. With that said, I found this book to be an engaging look into the life of Harry S. Truman who was truly a self-made man and didn't really even want to be The President in the first place. David McCullough has a great way of turning the facts into an enjoyable sto...more
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recommends it for:
History nuts and Politicos, and anyone interested in very detailed portraits of lives.
With the elections coming up, I think it is important for everyone to take a good look at what a presidency is all about. This book was particularily interesting to me, because the author is so detail-oriented, you really get a perfect sense of where this man came from, and how he came to be the leader of the free world at that time.
We have to remember that the people in the history books were once just 'real men', with flaws, dreams, and families. Sometimes it's not all policy and hogwa...more
We have to remember that the people in the history books were once just 'real men', with flaws, dreams, and families. Sometimes it's not all policy and hogwa...more
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Read in June, 2008
This is a great book that tells us so much about the Common Man's President. He is a president we don't really talk about much or give a lot of credit to, but during his presidency the United States ended WWII, dropped the atom bombs, developed the Marshall Plan, created the United Nations, NATO, Four Points Plan, entered the Cold War, had the Berlin Airlift, backed Israel as a new nation, went into Korea, and dealt with the beginning of McCarthyism. All this during the presidency of man who s...more
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recommends it for:
people with fantastic attention spans, lots of time, and at least a slight interest in the subject
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 "...more
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 "...more
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Read in January, 1995
recommends it for:
everyone
If all biographies were as good as this one, I would read nothing but biographies. McCullough details the life of Harry Truman with such style, that it is possible to forget one is reading a non-fiction book. My estimation of Harry Truman, which was high to begin with, skyrocketed by the time I finished reading. Truman certainly had all of the values that a President needed to have during the trying times during which he governed. In these pages, he is not portrayed as a plaster saint, but ...more
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Read in November, 2007
I enjoyed this a lot, although I was regretting the fact that the audio book was abridged--until I read the numerous other reviews that talk about how looong the real thing is. I feel like the abridged version let me learn the perfect amount about Truman. To be honest I really didn't really know much about Truman except for a few basic facts, and so I learned a lot from listening to this. Although McCullough does become a little too detailed in some points, overall this biography does a great...more
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Read in August, 2008
This book is fantastic. I couldn't have been more pleased. I love David McCullough and he never ceases to amaze you with this intimate portrayal of Harry Truman's life. He brings the President to the level of an average man who finds himself in an above-average position. I would recommend this to anyone looking for an in-depth look at one of our most interesting Presidents to-date.
Upon reading this, I have such a desire to meet and converse with HST--that's how fascinating and honorable ...more
Upon reading this, I have such a desire to meet and converse with HST--that's how fascinating and honorable ...more
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