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aaronboyes19's review
5.0
McCullough was a master historian and biographer. This biography of Truman was excellent. It personified the former president and showed him as a person, albeit one with immense power and influence during his lifetime. It is a page turner and will not disappoint.
tessisreading2's review
2.0
This book just went on... and on... and on. I enjoyed the early days of Harry Truman, but then it just kept going, in oft-excruciating detail. As I approached the end, I found myself muttering things like, "Really? You think I care this much about his renovation of the White House?" McCullough was clearly aiming to write the comprehensive Truman biography, and I'm sure he has, but there were so many details about so many aspects of Truman's life that weren't particularly interesting - and Truman himself, frankly, doesn't necessarily seem that interesting: fair and honest and patriotic, yes, but if he had a really complex inner life, that... doesn't seem indicated. McCullough clearly really liked his subject, which is great, but did make it difficult occasionally to trust his objectivity in evaluating Truman's motivations or behavior. I guess I'm glad I read it, but wow, it took a long time.
mattmciver's review
4.0
Terrific study of a president typically underrated. Truman is the example folks should reach for when arguing that character matters in a President, because that's basically all he had when he took office after Roosevelt's death. The end of the war in Europe, the atomic bomb, the start of the cold war, support for Greece and Turkey against Communism, the Marshall Plan (I want to read a biography of Marshall next--he sounds like the most pivotal figure of the 1940s), Korea--few presidents face one test of that scale, I know of none other than Lincoln and FDR who faced so many. Truman wasn't perfect and his bad personnel decisions and the appearance of corruption marred the Presidency. But overall a terrific read about a great man.
terrimarshall's review
5.0
This book is truly a masterpiece. David McCullough well deserves his Pulitzer Prize for this book. It is an awesome compilation of Truman's entire life that was thoroughly researched and investigated. It kept my attention for the entire 1000 pages. I couldn't wait to get into this book day after day. Truman was a fascinating person, an everyday man, without a college education or wealth, who found himself in position to become President of the United States by fate. He was President during some very challenging times in the history of our country. He had to fill the huge shoes of Roosevelt when he died suddenly only 3 months after being reelected for a new term. He saw the advent of the atomic bomb and was the man who had to make the major decisions on the use of the bomb. He saw the end of World War II and then had to navigate the country through the postwar period when the country was in a period of flux economically. He was the main man who had to steer us through the Korean War. So many major events occurred on his watch. He was truly a likeable guy who loved people and thrived on being with people and helping people. When campaigning, he would jump on the train and travel from town to town, stopping to speak to people and shake hands along the way, and he loved being among the people like this. He was a politician, but he was as honest as they come, and rarely did he jockey for position in order to make himself look good politically. He mostly just made decisions based on what he thought was right and good without thought to how it would affect him politically. His staff and those who served him in the White House adored him as he was very loyal and caring to them on an individual basis. He wasn't perfect and didn't always do or say the right thing, but he was a pretty darn good President.
We could certainly use a Truman in our political environment today!
We could certainly use a Truman in our political environment today!