Truman
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.
Stats for nerds
3recommend
7mentions
5people
2008–2026years
71% recommend29% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- It's incredible how good those books are, and I genuinely feel sorry for anyone who hasn't experienced them. I read them over two years ago and still remember many details as if I read them yesterday. This is quite rare for me, given how much I read. Strangely, I didn’t have the same experience with "The Power Broker."
Ever since finishing them, I have been on the hunt for historical biographies of similar quality. While I haven't found any that match up completely, here are a few that come close in my opinion:
* Truman by David McCullough
* Grant by Ron Chernow
* American Caesar by William Manchester
I've also read the three-part Churchill series by Manchester, but it didn’t quite measure up to the LBJ series for me.
If you have any other suggestions, please share them!
My brother in law loves Vonnegut, I read all of his books also. Personally, I don't understand the appeal
- Truman: https://www.amazon.com/Truman-David-McCullough/dp/1442387807
Grant: https://www.amazon.com/Grant/dp/178854160X
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt: https://www.amazon.com/Theodore-Roosevelt-Modern-Library-Pap...
- Truman by David McCullough: https://www.goodreads.com/zh/book/show/2279
Really amazing biography about a man who became president by accident and guided country during the initial years of the atomic age. He was perfect, but the book depicts him to be a great person and a good president .
The End of the World Is just Beginning: https://www.amazon.com/End-World-Just-Beginning-Globalizatio...
Uses lots of data to back up his hypothesis two events
1. the US no longer policing the world 2) demographic shifts in most countries not reproducing
have create a situation where the the world as we know it is changing, and things are only going to get worse, the peace we know and the supplies we rely on will no longer exist soon.
Countries like China and most of West Europe are completely fucked because their populations are going to decrease by > 50% in the next few decades and they do not have the workforce or immigration policies in place to solve these problems. Ironically, he claims the US is in the best position because we have all the natural resources we need, we are not dying demographically, and Mexico and Canada are not threats.
We should expect to see less peace, more nationalism and overall a lot more instability in the future.
- The LBJ series by Robert Caro stands head and shoulders above everything else.
Some other good ones, including a great series about Winston Churchill:
Mornings on Horseback - about Teddy Roosevelt by David McCullough
Truman - David McCullough
The Last Lion - series of books about Churchill. I forget the author.
All of Doris Kearns Goodwin books are excellent, as well. She's covered a lot of presidents.
- John Forbes Nash: "A Beautiful Mind" by Sylvia Nasir
Richard Feynman: "Genius" by James Gleick
"The Passion of Ayn Rand" by Barbara Brandon
"John Adams" and "Truman" by David McCullough
"Lincoln the Unknown" by Dale Carnegie
- Reading McCullough bio of Truman and Caro bio of LBJ lead me to the same conclusion. It was brutal, and most who saw any means of escape seized it
I’m compelled by the romantic nostalgia, but I know I personally couldn’t cut the mustard
