Truman Books

Yeah, I still have the same old gripes about Truman's overall writing style (or lack thereof), but they've lessened in intensity now that she's found in Mac Smith a decent sleuth. Too bad I know it won't last. (See my review for Murder in the Pentagon.)

This was another of Truman's great books!! The action of was continues though out the whole book and it was a wonderful book!

...

Margaret Truman has woven together her knowledge of Washington
politics and a great mystery in "Murder at the Kennedy Center."
And she sure knows how to interweave a complicated plot. As soon
as Mac agrees to take a ace, he runs into countless problems:
Senator Ewald, it seems, has not be as...
his political supporters might believe; ...Soon a South American dictator and a
conservative evangelist muddy the waters even more.

As Mac delves deeper into the mystery, he learns more about his
friend than perhaps he had wanted to know. In a short period of
time, he has a long list of suspects!

Truman has done an excellent job of creating vivid characters and
developing a plot that will keep you alert. She has also managed
to mirror a number of contemporary politicians and headlines in
this novel; I think you'll have fun deciding who is being
modeled.

I've just discovered Margaret Truman and am enjoying every minute of her writing. Not only does she write a good mystery but she entices me with her detailed descriptions of life in Washington D.C. Mac and Annabelle are becoming "good friends". I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.

The description of a Democratic party gala is described with the intimacy of one who has actually attended such an affair. It is for this reason that the reader trusts the author in the other relevant portions of the plotting and structure of this well-told tale of mayhem in our nation's capital. This is a fine addition to the author's stunning series of mystery novels using the backdrop of the great institutions of Washington, D. C.

I really enjoyed this book, more so than the others I've read so far. The plot was intriguing, the art was outstanding. I like the character development. It was simply a fun read.

The Hunt for Aurra Sing was an excellent graphic novel, but it had some glaring flaws. I'll start with the plot, though. While hunting Aurra Sing in the Coruscant undercity, two Jedi Knights are killed along with a Republic Security Patrol. Escaping her dead Master's fate, the Padawan with them escapes to tell the Jedi Council what had happened. The Council agrees on one thing: Aurra Sing must not escape to kill more Jedi. This TPB had very good art (far better than the rest in the Star Wars Ongoing series- Outlander, Prelude to Rebellion, etc.) but it still wasn't up to the level of the Republic series(or the Clone Wars TPB's). The story was very good, and so was the binding (for once) but the main problem of The Hunt for Aurra Sing was the character development. This graphic novel focuses on Ki-Adi-Mundi, who is usually a very boring character. A'Sharad Hett is as well, as he was trained by Ki and never does ANYTHING interesting. Fortunately, characters like the Dark Woman and Aurra Sing improve the overall quality of the story by adding more variety, instead of just loyal, humble Jedi who are completely by-the-book and uninteresting. Overall, The Hunt for Aurra Sing was a good read, and despite the problems, I'd tell any Star Wars fan to pick it up immediately.

I like the idea of incorporating other characters in the expanded universe, such as Hett, The Dark Woman, and Aurra Sing. However, where is this story going?

The art was descent and the writing was kind of abbreviated. This story was kind of short as well.

The Hunt for Aurra Sing is another commendable comic in this Ongoing series, one that has little substance aside from the fun read it is. With the primary storyline hunting down the Jedi killer like the animal she is, this comic lacks any other plots that could have made it more interesting.

This comic is closure for the Ki-Ad-Mundi, A'Sharad and Sing characters. Next up you have Twilight, and the focus under new artist teams shifts to Quinlin Vos and his peers.

Quality of art is comparable to Emissaries to Malastare---or at least its first half, before the art went out the airlock. Here, texture and illustrations are not of Twilight's superb quality but still stand out well. Aside from the saber blades, which are little more than single-colour sticks, shadowing and resolution is actually not so bad. All cover arts here, however, issue and TPB fronts, were terrible.

The dialogue varies between the cast, which incorporates the simple-minded Jedi hunters, the Quarren political retinue, and of course Sing's delightful self-indulgent lines. Cocky, sarcastic, brazen, you just gotta love her.

The prologue scene is typical of what you'd expect from this sort of comic, but being long enough it doesn't end too quickly and had enough emotional support to see it through. Sing taking out a Jedi team after her trail---an Anx and Kerestian (8 cheek noses) Jedi Master, starts the ball rolling. Interesting to see her reluctant to kill apprentices until they're old enough to face her; the little Twi'lek girl, now orphaned, appears back in the later Aayla Secura comic, a nice continuity touch by that team indeed.

The Jedi party after her hide acts like all Jedi of that era do: predictably naive and persistently outsmarted. But hey, if they weren't shot down, the plot couldn't progress, could it? For young A'Sharad, it's to account for the murderess that killed his father; for Ki-Ad-Mundi, it's concern for his master's welfare, the enigmatic Dark Woman; and Adi Gallia's lacklustre role here has her little more than a figurehead.

Did I say Dark Woman? You bet I did. She's back again, grinning in looks, with her own issue cover in the third. If Vader only slays her just before Episode 4, there's still two decades of timeline to have more of her. Hint hint wink nudge . . .

Overall, The Hunt for Aurra Sing will appeal to her fanbase, and particularly if you've already invested in Outlander and Emissaries to Malastare.

This is a review of ISBN 156971651X, called Star wars: Republic - The Hunt for Aurra Sing issues 28 to 31, released as a TPB by Dark Horse comics July, 2002.

This is a very good comic, but a step backward from the three that preceded it. The story by Truman is good, but the artwork is a step backward. The style is more cartoonish than what we have been getting in the REPUBLIC run of issues. The cover art is very dark and frankly, not very good.

The Jedi are out to hunt down Bounty Hunter - force sensitive killer Aurra Sing. Aurra is a rouge in the worst sense. She slaughters others cruelly and senselessly, and in fact she murdered Padawan A Sharad's father (see OUTLANDER).

The production quality, even if you don't care for the artwork itself, is awesome. Dark horse as of early 2002, even late 2001 has had great strides in producing great comic. They also seem to have been sensitive to the tradition of poor editing in the past, and they seem to do a much better job of helping the reader now who is who and who is speaking. My biggest complaint concerning the lazy editing was UNION. I see that Chris Warner edited that one. He is still editor-and-chief of HUNT but had an assist from David Land. Thanks for being more attentive for the fanatics like me.

The lightsabers. Some have criticized that the lightsabers in some comics were drawn to small. Looks like they may have overadjusted here because they look larger and I would say, more cartoonish.

I assume that the person who does the pencils is in effect the artist. I did not that a different person did the pencils here from the previous TPB's that I liked a lot. Lets just say that I really like the work of Jan Duursema, Magyar and McCaig, and am less a fan of the work of Robinson and Fabbri (though Robinson's art in Twilight as great).

This book is non-stop read and fun! Don't start it at night unless you wanna lose sleep over it!

I thought that this book was a slow at the start, a bitdifficult to keep all the characters straight. But, be patient, oncethis book starts to fly -- you won't want to put it down. Hats off to Margaret Truman - - I absolutely loved it !!!

Major Margit Falk is an engaging heroine for an engaging mystery series. Yet that in itself is the serious flaw in this particular addition to the mystery series which has been been excellent to date. Part of the reason that the series has been so compelling is the reality of the scenery, political intrique, and governmental descriptions. However, in this book, our heroine, Major Margit Falk, is both a helicopter pilot and a lawyer. These are two distinctly separate career tracks in the military. Thus, the story is weaken at the outset. This is good escapist reading but it lacks the intimacy of the rest of the series which had plots that seemed more plausible.

Just when I thought Truman had finally found her writing voice and a sleuth she was comfortable with, she shoves Mac Smith into a bit part and goes back to exploiting some naïve female who has somehow managed to work her way into a high-powered government position without realizing that dirty politics are afoot. So we readers have to suffer while she discovers that the government and the military are not composed entirely of a bunch of really nice, honest people who are looking out for her best interests, and along the way we are treated to all manner of trivia culled straight from the Pentagon tour. Then, even though she doesn't name it, Truman dredges up the MK-ULTRA bit one more freakin' time and expects it to cover any plot holes she may have left lying about. She seems to go to so much trouble to set up the two main plot threads, and then she just kind of slaps them together and expects them to make sense. And, as usual, the character interactions are forced and boring.

Still, it was better than MURDER IN THE FBI, in which I didn't even find any of the characters interesting, let alone likable.

Ms. Truman needs to do better research! Air Force women do not wear Khaki. And Air Force lawyers do not just take out helicopters for a spin. In fact, I can't think of any JAGs on flying status as pilots. And one more thing....most field grade officers do not reside in the BOQ, contrary to Margaret Truman's statement. Since our heroine lives in DC, she might, due to the cost of living in the area, but as a rule most single officers of that rank prefer to live off base. I found way too many inconsistancies to enjoy this book.

This is the first book I have read by Truman and guess it will be my last. I was very disappointed in it. I had heard such rave reviews. The book was very confusing to me. To many people involved and to much detail about places, to many murders and all by same people, in to many countries. I stayed lost a big part of the time. That may be due to my lack of smarts, but I was still lost. Sorry. Mrs. Truman.

The dialogue in this book was somewhat better than that in Murder in the Supreme Court, but the characters were flat, the exposition was blaring, and the collusion required for the plot to work was pretty unbelievable, even for fiction.

I enjoy Truman's books and recently made a list of those I've missed along the way which led me to this earlier work. I liked the characters so much I didn't want this book to end. Her books always enliven history as well as offer a murder to be solved. This particular story would make a good movie as it includes jewels, castles, London, and White House venues.

Another fascinating book by Margaret Truman.Another well constructed international plot! She obviously know the Smithonian, the world of international art dealers and Museum curators. and she does give the impression of having been in London and Edimburgh. it bring back memories. well researched

Margaret Truman writes mysteries that capitalize on her terrific knowledge of Washington, DC, and impress me by moving right along to a solution. The plots can be a bit intricate, but that's part of the fun. In this story, Dr. Lewis Tunney, a historian, is murdered spectacularly on the balcony above the famous Focault pendulum in the National Museum of American History, during a gala attended by the Vice President of the United States. Captain Mac Hanrahan of the Washington police has the task, filled with political pressure, of solving the murder. He finds that Tunney had learned a devastating secret, and was murdered before he could reveal it. Hanrahan's task is complicated by the arrival in the United States of strong-willed Heather McBean, the Scottish fiance of Tunney. She sets out independently to find who murdered Tunney. But the murderer proceeds to kill others who might know Tunney's secret, and Heather finds herself stalked by the murderer. It all makes an enjoyable story.

Very infomative. Too short, but about the right amount of depth. Showed some of his political shaping.

I never did give anybody hell. I just gave them the truth and they thought it was hell. That's my favorite quote of Harry S Truman and has nothing to do with this book, except one thing. As you read through this left-handed autobiography, the quote pretty much sums up this great man's efforts during his long tenure of a political career. There is an involvement throughout the book that says that he tried his best for the people, his people... and who can ask more from a representative of the people? This book is a compilation of letters, writings, scribblings and other noteworthy sources rather than a sit-down writing from the man to the public, which is well put together and gives the reader a strangely consistent look into the mind-set of a great man.

This book is an excellent example of why Harry Truman is the all-time greatest underdog. He came from simple roots and through sheer will and determination, he made some of the most significant changes to the United Staes and the world. Well-written and entertaining.

I ordered this book because I am interested in the person of president Truman, and the years of his presidency. I expected to get more insight about the decision of dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, his dealings with Churchill and Stalin, and the korean war and his relationship with Douglas MacArthur. This book has tells nothing about those subjects, and is overall very sketchy.

This is a joke. It is a cartoon book.
Don't waste your money or your time.

As an avid fan of the book "In Cold Blood" and the movie "Capote", I looked forward to reading this. I should have stuck to Gerald Clarke's biography. This was okay, although I don't think it advanced my knowledge of Capote, the crimes, the Clutters, or the killers. Nancy Clutter's utilization as a plot device was odd--I kept wondering what her two surviving sisters would have thought of this.

Murder, ripped straight from the pages of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, begins Capote in Kansas, the engaging work from writer Ande Parks and illustrator Chris Samnee. Based on the research period of Capote's "non-fiction novel," the story introduces the reader to Capote, the flamboyant, arguably-overconfident, writer who steps into a world of brutal homicide, centered around the deaths of four members of a prominent Holcomb farming family-Kansans Herb, Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon Clutter.
In his story, Parks takes the reader cyclically from death to death, filling it in with what perhaps is his strongest talent, the ability to create telling human relationships. It's not the believability of Capote as a socialite character that draws readers in, but rather his vulnerability. While it becomes difficult to believe some of Capote's actions (the naïve waltz into the police station, the expectation of assistance from the police) one does not question the more intimate moments of his life, especially not Capote's childhood. Capote's solid friendship with Harper Lee only reinforces the strength of this scene creating a relationship that foreshadows Capote's later one with Perry.
Still, for all the success of Parks' characters, one cannot help but find fault in Nancy Clutter, the ghost who seems no more than a device for sentimentality. While she might have been a powerful illustration of Capote's psychological struggle to unravel the history of the Clutter family, Nancy comes off more as a confidante and a contrivance to humanize Capote. It appears, at times, that Parks' may have intended Nancy to be something closer to the illustration of the struggle, but it never quite settles into that. This sentimentality goes on to haunt Parks' narration, especially in the scenes with Capote and Nancy in the rain, and Capote hugging Perry in prison.
Still, applause should certainly follow Parks' depiction of homosexual relationships. Not only does he shy away from overt stereotype, but in the letters and back-and-forthing between Capote and Jack, readers have the opportunity to see love. Parks does not dwell on Capote's infidelity either, acts which may not make for a likeable character, but nevertheless a believable one (Capote having had several relationships with arguably-heterosexual men). That he treats homosexuals as people, however, and not types exploitable for comic value is a testament to Parks' maturity as a writer.
And accompanying Parks' tale, Samnee lends his talents for stunning illustration. With careful attention to negative space, and a degree of control that would make Frank Miller proud, Samnee creates highly-detailed images with particular expertise at group scenes (the funeral, arrest of the suspects), parties, banquets, and landscapes. His depictions of anticipation, remorse, happiness, and sly wit are unquestionably authentic with his management of sequencing tracking the progression of emotion beautifully in scenes like Capote's childhood, Capote's advance at Perry, and at the story's conclusion, Nancy's beautiful dance into oblivion.
One encounters trouble, however, in scenes like Capote's seduction of the teacher, where, arguably, it would seem that Capote is making love to himself. The character differentiation simply isn't clear enough, as opposed to other points in the novel, which are crystal (Capote inspecting the Clutter home, the beginning murder scene). Though, Samnee should receive no fewer congratulations than Parks on his depiction of homosexual relationships, especially in the scene between Capote and the teacher. The kissing appears natural with the teacher showing just enough shame and apprehension one might expect from a small-town person concerned about the discovery of a secret. Only in a few places does the sequencing seem shaky, most notably when Capote attempts to demonstrate a handstand to Nancy, which results in him falling over, and knocking a phantom chair to the ground-a chair that seems to appear out of thin air just for the sake of one panel.
Overall, though, the work is successful, conveying powerful images to compliment the grim tale. Parks keeps the reader focused upon Capote without overloading them with information. Background history works smoothly into the plot, and Samnee is there to keep the horrors on the page bound in ink.

Capote in Kansas is a perfect companion piece to In Cold Blood. Ande Park's graphic novel parallels Capote's work providing interesting details and the inner most thoughts of the main character(s) while developing the supporting characters, showing how their lives are touched and how their lives touch the main character, yet carves its own path along the way.

This is a gorgeously illustrated novel with an eye catching cover. How Ande was able to get Chris Samnee is beyond me, I'm thinking he lost big to Ande in a poker match and this was the only way he could pay his debt.

Ande Parks has provided his readers with a hundred and twenty pages of solid writing with no wasted page or panel leaving the reader wanting another hundred and twenty.

I highly recommend Capote in Kansas. This graphic novel and its creators are definitely worthy of an Eisner nomination.

Great book, as always has been this Conan series, enjoy it, because it will change soon.

I bought the hardcover collection and wish I hadn't. It's just a habit but this volume has broken me. I'm sure of that.
This series, up until now, has had some good stories, good art and a promise of retained quality. That ship has sailed with this collection. I'd like to have a single factor to blame but it's pretty much everyone's fault, from editorial to the colorist the cylinders aren't clicking, here. It's not a terrible book but the coloring solidly pushes it to my below average rating.
It's not for certain that Cary Nord's art is bad. The coloring muddies it so much that it's hard to fault his efforts, here. Tim Truman is a solid replacement for Kurt Busiek too. This adaptation is mired by lackluster art, that has great layouts but the particulars are ugly. Tim does crisp dialogue with a good framework for the story but it still bogs down. The finale of the story is the best part. It looks like Cary Nord wanted to go out on a high note. Tim has to share blame for insisting on putting his mark on the book by adding a plot thread that does nothing for this story that's high on plot and intrigue but low on action and adventure. The added thread is not necessary and definitely slows the pace of the story more than is warranted. Tomas Giorello, the artist on that part of the story is not a bad artist, but he's not a distinctive one either. And with the bland, slate grays, fudge browns, gun metal blues and dim reds dominating the color scheme for the entire tale he's just a straw man for an effort that is misguided from top to bottom. My opinion is that the story should have wrapped up in two, perhaps three issues, and not the four it's spread across.
If anyone just has to have this book, for the sake of the much hallowed comic book continuity, knock yourselves out. It's a slog with a few nice touches.
For what it's worth the next volume looks like it's a lot more fun, especially if gritty sword and sorcery horror is your preferred form of entertainment.

I had to respond to the individual who left a one star review, and provide a more balanced perspective, because he's out to lunch. These Dark Horse Conan comics are better (to me far better) than the regular Marvel series from the 1970s and 80s (Savage Sword was generally well done though). The artwork is fantastic, the dialogue is crisp, and most importantly the mood and sudden intensity of the scenarios live up to the spirit of Howard's writing.

It should be mentioned that the early marvel Conan's were generally better than the later part of the run, though sometimes Roy Thomas failed miserably in his writing, with original stories that were so unimaginitive (like the death of Belit) they didn't deserve publication. Marvel was NEVER the golden age of Conan.

I've read all of Howard's original material, almost all of the marvel run, and the all the Dark Horse Conans from the main title in recent years. The reviewer who gave one star must have got knocked in the head or something, because the talent of the writers and the artists simply oozes off the pages in this series. The suspense is gripping and the stories are a fine tribute to Howard's creation. If you liked the first four Dark Horse Conan trade paperbacks, then you'll like this one too.

Oh,well! It seems the new Golden Age of Conan has passed. The fifth volume in this outstaning series marks a severe dip in quality for what has been one of the best comic book series of the decade.
This volume marks the departure of artist Cary Nord, one of the few artist to live up the the standard set by Frank Frazetta in the 1960's, but what makes this volume so dire is the awful coloring.
Colorist Richard Isanove (replacing Dave Stweart) is usually one of the better colorist in the comic book industry, and does a good job on the first two chapters of this volume, but the coloring on the four subsequent chapters appears rushed and the heavy handed computer painting all but gobbles up the subtle pencil work it should be complimenting.
I had hoped publisher Dark Horse would correct the coloring on the book before collecting this story arc in paperback, but this did not happen, and one of Robert E. Howard's better stories is left a mess.
I hope future volumes of this series are done with better care, but judging by what has been released by replacement artist Tomas Gorillo, who fills in for Mr. Nord for one issue in this edition, there is not much to be optamistic about. Mr. Gorillo's art is flat and lacks the mastery displayed by Cary Nord or the myriad of fill-in artist who have stepped in over the course of this series to lend a hand, and who were all better suited to continue drawing the series. Tragic.

Rogues in the House is the latest volume in Dark Horse Comics' continuing Conan comic book series; the series began with writing from the great Kurt Busiek and art from Cary Nord and Dave Stewart. In this volume, we find the reigns passed to writer Timothy Truman and artist Thomas Giorello. I was a little skeptical at first - Busiek had written the series with immense verve and respect for Conan and Robert E. Howard both, and Cary Nord's artistically sketchy pencils, accompanied by Stewart's intuitive digital painting, seemed to fit the series perfectly. For those who might be wary of this volume, don't be: Truman is exceptionally adept at crafting complex fantasy yarns, Giorello's art compares favorably with Nord's, and the digital painting talents of Richard Isanove are certainly up to the task.

This volume follows where volume 4 leaves off, with Conan and Nestor the Gunderman still in Zamora, City of Thieves, plying their trade as burglars whilst a noose of powerful political forces slowly tightens around them. Conan finds that his latest lady love, the fickle Jiara, is not to be trusted, and circumstances conspire to bring him in league with rebels seeking to overthrow the tyrannical king of the city. Plus, there are evil, intelligent monkeys to deal with (I'm not kidding...).

This is among the best volumes in the series thus far. Truman has a knack for mood and dialogue, and we immediately feel for even the most minor of supporting characters under his skillful writing. Giorello take over the artistic duties halfway through this volume, and while we notice a distinct shift in style, he still works within the tradition of excellence set by Nord. Truman's writing also has some sly asides in it - there is a great boxing scene in which Conan fights a man in a bar for money, and one gets the feeling this is a tribute to Robert E. Howard's many boxing yarns he penned.

I highly recommend this volume, and I hope you'll pick it up.

I was disappointed in this book. Although she does give some good tips, they could all have fit into less than two pages. The rest of the book consisted of lists prizes she's won and famous people she's met. Boring!

What a fun book! Easy to read and lots of information on how to win contests and sweepstakes. To date I have won a pair of airline tickets, a $50 gift card, and lessons at a cooking school. Now I'm hooked and I can't wait to enter other contests/sweepstakes. It is so easy using Carol's techniques and most exciting when you win a prize. The book is also interesting with Carol telling about her experiences meeting celebrities. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to find a new and exciting hobby.
Debra Beckemeyer

When I was looking for a book on sweepstakes this is the one I found and it helped me start my hobby. I loved the detail that Carol shared and the distinction she made between sweepstakes and contest. The book really helped to get me started and encouraged me with the stories of what she had won. It made the whole sweepstakes concept easy and fun.

The editor of this book either must have been in a hurry when working on this book or has no business in the field of literature. There are numerous grammatical structure errors and word misspellings, i.e. Bush [sic] Stadium should be Busch Stadium. In another paragraph a reference is made to bugs bunny [sic] then in the next sentence it is spelled correctly as Bugs Bunny. I see the book nothing more than a list of prizes that she won and how she won them.

This was required reading for a graduate course in American history. In this engaging biography, Robert H. Ferrell, who has authored and edited eight previous books on Truman, does an admirable job of presenting the life and presidency of Harry S. Truman. Although one can detect Ferrell's admiration for Truman, one senses from the extensive notes, bibliography, and research conducted at the Truman Library as well as his willingness to criticize Truman for his mistakes, that Ferrell has written a very balanced biography of Truman. Ferrell's book is a good introductory biography of Truman's whole life; the first eight chapters are devoted to his life prior to his ascendancy to the presidency in 1945 after the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. One gets the sense that Truman was the last president of an earlier and simpler time in America. He was the last president who was not a college graduate nor was he well--off financially. Ferrell's biography captures the essence of what type of a man Truman was and what history and his fellow citizens perceived him as.
"A plain-speaking, straight-talking, ordinary fellow (people thought) who did what he saw as his duty without turning his obligation into opportunity for personal gain" (179). Ferrell also exposed Truman's flaws such as being overprotective and too loyal to friends that had done wrong. Often he took it as a personal affront when anyone differed with him.
Ferrell presents a few experiences from Truman's early years that formed his character. From farming, Truman gained a work ethic that served him well throughout his life. His experience as an artillery captain and battery commander during WWI was instrumental in proving to himself and others that he was a very capable and caring leader of men. This experience was instrumental in putting him on the path of a political life. His experience as a failed haberdasher and bank speculator in the 1920's caused Truman to be a fiscal conservative the rest of his life and a good steward of the government's money. In addition, he learned about and came to understand and respect ethnic minorities, such as Catholics and Jews, from his Army and haberdashery experiences. Thus, Ferrell astutely proved that understanding Truman's early life experiences are instrumental if one wants to properly analyze Truman's decision-making process in the domestic and foreign policy arena.
"The Buck Stops Here" placard on Truman's desk has become legendary in presidential history. One of his secretaries of state, Dean Acheson, admired Truman for capably understanding the complexities of a situation and his willingness to make a hard decision without vacillating. Truman was adept at gathering all of the facts in a timely manner, listening to people's opinions and turning the options over in his mind, and then when he arrived at what he thought was the correct decision, he made it and stuck to his guns. Truman wound up making many important decisions that have affected America to this day such as, using nuclear weapons against Japan to end WWII, integrating the military in 1948, recognizing the state of Israel, creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and involving American military forces in the Korean war.
One of the first, most momentous, and most often debated decisions that Truman had to make as President was whether to use two atomic bombs against Japan to hasten the end of WWII. Ferrell and other historians have made a very convincing argument to support Truman's decision-making process to use nuclear weapons to end the war. The Japanese military, who effectively controlled their government, were fanatics in their prosecution of the war. The Japanese people had suffered through numerous fire bombings of their cities in the months leading up to the end of the war, in which hundreds of thousands of their citizens were killed. In addition, the military had lost many battles and virtually all of its island holdings in the Pacific, and yet the government was strengthening its homeland forces and preparing for invasion instead of seriously considering surrender. Ferrell, relying on information gathered by Edward J. Drea, who wrote about the American military intelligence estimate gathered in July of 1945 mainly through the deciphering of Japanese radio traffic, showed that up to 600,000 Japanese were being prepared to fight in the event of an American invasion. Even this estimate turned out to be too low, since after the war American intelligence learned that the Japanese actually had some 900,000 prepared to fight against the invasion. American military estimates of the cost of life in the event of an invasion of the Japanese home islands were at best sketchy, and many historians who have written against the use of atomic weapons have used the unreliability of the estimates as one of their examples why Truman was wrong to use the nuclear option. However, Thomas B. Allen and Norman Polmar in their book, Codename Downfall, which detailed the plan to invade Japan, wrote that Truman was presented with an estimate that showed that there could be 238,000 American casualties and possibly the same number of Japanese casualties. This information coupled with the very real evidence of how tenaciously the Japanese people had fought was no myth, and convinced Truman that dropping the bombs on Japan to end the war was the right decision. One only had to look at the horrific casualty figures for American battles on Iwo Jima and Okinawa to name a few in order to understand just how fiercely the Japanese were capable of fighting. Ferrell aptly showed that Truman's decision has come under criticism throughout the years partly because of how he had stridently defended it and was so dismissive of the critics of his decision. "The president's critics, one suspects, were ready to accuse him because they did not admire other things he did or approved. They were critical because of his well-known decisiveness, which sometimes seemed offhanded" (214).
Truman, almost by necessity and circumstance, was forced to alter America's foreign policy of isolationism to one of internationalism. Truman realized the Korean War left him in a predicament. If he did not defend South Korea in the wake of North Korea's attack, he then would acquiescence to the Communist North Koreans, and ultimately the Russians. By not defending South Korea, American prestige in Asia and the world would undoubtedly would be tarnished. Yet, if he did attack, he risked a world war with the Chinese and the Russians, and ultimately a nuclear war. In light of the Truman doctrine, and America's stance on communism, Truman decided to defend South Korea. It was a widely unpopular war, which ended in a stalemate. Yet, Ferrell entertains a notion that America did not become the world superpower after WW II, but rather during the Korean War because America intervened to defend a non-communist nation, in essence, America became the police and protection force for weaker non-communist countries in the face of communist aggression. Many historians would agree that the year 1945 and the history after irreversibly changed the world. The cold war, America's role in world affairs, and the question of nuclear weapons all contributed.
Truman initially set about reorganizing the bureaucracy, conducting a complete overhaul of cabinet and staff. In addition to creating the Budget Bureau and the National Security Council, he created the Council of Economic Advisers, which he staffed it with both conservatives and liberals and regarded it as an advisory committee. Ferrell positively describes Truman's intellect, honesty, and integrity throughout the book but one of the places where it shines most brightly is in his civil rights efforts, which is rarely given the credit it deserves in historical accounts. Ferrell examines possible reasons behind Truman's change of heart on civil rights and concludes that much of his perspective came from his principled sense of fairness and his belief that the duty of the office of the President was to represent all Americans. The Truman-appointed Civil Rights Commission presented a frank report, entitled To Secure These Rights, with a ten-point agenda of civil rights reforms. Lacking congressional support, he turned to the power of executive orders to start the desegregation of the armed forces.
His second administration was marred by scandals, including the Hoey Investigation, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue illegal activity, for which the president was criticized for failing to take appropriate action. Another one of Truman's domestic challenges, which cost him politically, was labor strikes. To avoid a steelworker strike, Truman invoked what he believed to be the inherent powers of the president to seize control of the mills and was rebuffed by the Supreme Court. As the 1952 election loomed, Truman bristled that the emerging Democratic candidate, Adlai Stevenson, was distancing himself from Truman's administration. Although they reconciled and Truman even assisted with campaign speeches, it was to little avail. Eisenhower won 55 percent of the popular vote and Truman finished out his lame duck presidency.
In his post-presidency years, Truman returned to Independence and his quiet life. He solicited donations to build a presidential library, which he donated to the federal government, a convention which later presidents have followed. Likewise, he refused endorsements and placement in corporate payrolls because he believed that accepting financial opportunities would diminish the integrity of the office of President. As a result, Harry and Bess Truman lived out the remainder of their lives without the safety of financial savings. He established a precise daily routine at his library, which included writing copious amount of letters and receiving many visitors. Ever the politician, he remained connected with Washington life and accepted invitations to the White House in both the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations. In his final years, bothered with health problems, he took refuge in music and books. He died the day after Christmas, 1972 and was buried at his presidential library in Independence, with all the pomp and circumstance fitting a former President.

Thus, Ferrell does a very convincing job of making one believe just how important and interesting it is to study Truman, especially since he was so very different from the presidents who had come before and after him.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, foreign policy, Cold War history.

I read this book for a history class, it was ok.

This was required reading for a graduate course in American history. In this engaging biography, Robert H. Ferrell, who has authored and edited eight previous books on Truman, does an admirable job of presenting the life and presidency of Harry S. Truman. Although one can detect Ferrell's admiration for Truman, one senses from the extensive notes, bibliography, and research conducted at the Truman Library as well as his willingness to criticize Truman for his mistakes, that Ferrell has written a very balanced biography of Truman. Ferrell's book is a good introductory biography of Truman's whole life; the first eight chapters are devoted to his life prior to his ascendancy to the presidency in 1945 after the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. One gets the sense that Truman was the last president of an earlier and simpler time in America. He was the last president who was not a college graduate nor was he well--off financially. Ferrell's biography captures the essence of what type of a man Truman was and what history and his fellow citizens perceived him as.
"A plain-speaking, straight-talking, ordinary fellow (people thought) who did what he saw as his duty without turning his obligation into opportunity for personal gain" (179). Ferrell also exposed Truman's flaws such as being overprotective and too loyal to friends that had done wrong. Often he took it as a personal affront when anyone differed with him.
Ferrell presents a few experiences from Truman's early years that formed his character. From farming, Truman gained a work ethic that served him well throughout his life. His experience as an artillery captain and battery commander during WWI was instrumental in proving to himself and others that he was a very capable and caring leader of men. This experience was instrumental in putting him on the path of a political life. His experience as a failed haberdasher and bank speculator in the 1920's caused Truman to be a fiscal conservative the rest of his life and a good steward of the government's money. In addition, he learned about and came to understand and respect ethnic minorities, such as Catholics and Jews, from his Army and haberdashery experiences. Thus, Ferrell astutely proved that understanding Truman's early life experiences are instrumental if one wants to properly analyze Truman's decision-making process in the domestic and foreign policy arena.
"The Buck Stops Here" placard on Truman's desk has become legendary in presidential history. One of his secretaries of state, Dean Acheson, admired Truman for capably understanding the complexities of a situation and his willingness to make a hard decision without vacillating. Truman was adept at gathering all of the facts in a timely manner, listening to people's opinions and turning the options over in his mind, and then when he arrived at what he thought was the correct decision, he made it and stuck to his guns. Truman wound up making many important decisions that have affected America to this day such as, using nuclear weapons against Japan to end WWII, integrating the military in 1948, recognizing the state of Israel, creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and involving American military forces in the Korean war.
One of the first, most momentous, and most often debated decisions that Truman had to make as President was whether to use two atomic bombs against Japan to hasten the end of WWII. Ferrell and other historians have made a very convincing argument to support Truman's decision-making process to use nuclear weapons to end the war. The Japanese military, who effectively controlled their government, were fanatics in their prosecution of the war. The Japanese people had suffered through numerous fire bombings of their cities in the months leading up to the end of the war, in which hundreds of thousands of their citizens were killed. In addition, the military had lost many battles and virtually all of its island holdings in the Pacific, and yet the government was strengthening its homeland forces and preparing for invasion instead of seriously considering surrender. Ferrell, relying on information gathered by Edward J. Drea, who wrote about the American military intelligence estimate gathered in July of 1945 mainly through the deciphering of Japanese radio traffic, showed that up to 600,000 Japanese were being prepared to fight in the event of an American invasion. Even this estimate turned out to be too low, since after the war American intelligence learned that the Japanese actually had some 900,000 prepared to fight against the invasion. American military estimates of the cost of life in the event of an invasion of the Japanese home islands were at best sketchy, and many historians who have written against the use of atomic weapons have used the unreliability of the estimates as one of their examples why Truman was wrong to use the nuclear option. However, Thomas B. Allen and Norman Polmar in their book, Codename Downfall, which detailed the plan to invade Japan, wrote that Truman was presented with an estimate that showed that there could be 238,000 American casualties and possibly the same number of Japanese casualties. This information coupled with the very real evidence of how tenaciously the Japanese people had fought was no myth, and convinced Truman that dropping the bombs on Japan to end the war was the right decision. One only had to look at the horrific casualty figures for American battles on Iwo Jima and Okinawa to name a few in order to understand just how fiercely the Japanese were capable of fighting. Ferrell aptly showed that Truman's decision has come under criticism throughout the years partly because of how he had stridently defended it and was so dismissive of the critics of his decision. "The president's critics, one suspects, were ready to accuse him because they did not admire other things he did or approved. They were critical because of his well-known decisiveness, which sometimes seemed offhanded" (214).
Truman, almost by necessity and circumstance, was forced to alter America's foreign policy of isolationism to one of internationalism. Truman realized the Korean War left him in a predicament. If he did not defend South Korea in the wake of North Korea's attack, he then would acquiescence to the Communist North Koreans, and ultimately the Russians. By not defending South Korea, American prestige in Asia and the world would undoubtedly would be tarnished. Yet, if he did attack, he risked a world war with the Chinese and the Russians, and ultimately a nuclear war. In light of the Truman doctrine, and America's stance on communism, Truman decided to defend South Korea. It was a widely unpopular war, which ended in a stalemate. Yet, Ferrell entertains a notion that America did not become the world superpower after WW II, but rather during the Korean War because America intervened to defend a non-communist nation, in essence, America became the police and protection force for weaker non-communist countries in the face of communist aggression. Many historians would agree that the year 1945 and the history after irreversibly changed the world. The cold war, America's role in world affairs, and the question of nuclear weapons all contributed.
Truman initially set about reorganizing the bureaucracy, conducting a complete overhaul of cabinet and staff. In addition to creating the Budget Bureau and the National Security Council, he created the Council of Economic Advisers, which he staffed it with both conservatives and liberals and regarded it as an advisory committee. Ferrell positively describes Truman's intellect, honesty, and integrity throughout the book but one of the places where it shines most brightly is in his civil rights efforts, which is rarely given the credit it deserves in historical accounts. Ferrell examines possible reasons behind Truman's change of heart on civil rights and concludes that much of his perspective came from his principled sense of fairness and his belief that the duty of the office of the President was to represent all Americans. The Truman-appointed Civil Rights Commission presented a frank report, entitled To Secure These Rights, with a ten-point agenda of civil rights reforms. Lacking congressional support, he turned to the power of executive orders to start the desegregation of the armed forces.
His second administration was marred by scandals, including the Hoey Investigation, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue illegal activity, for which the president was criticized for failing to take appropriate action. Another one of Truman's domestic challenges, which cost him politically, was labor strikes. To avoid a steelworker strike, Truman invoked what he believed to be the inherent powers of the president to seize control of the mills and was rebuffed by the Supreme Court. As the 1952 election loomed, Truman bristled that the emerging Democratic candidate, Adlai Stevenson, was distancing himself from Truman's administration. Although they reconciled and Truman even assisted with campaign speeches, it was to little avail. Eisenhower won 55 percent of the popular vote and Truman finished out his lame duck presidency.
In his post-presidency years, Truman returned to Independence and his quiet life. He solicited donations to build a presidential library, which he donated to the federal government, a convention which later presidents have followed. Likewise, he refused endorsements and placement in corporate payrolls because he believed that accepting financial opportunities would diminish the integrity of the office of President. As a result, Harry and Bess Truman lived out the remainder of their lives without the safety of financial savings. He established a precise daily routine at his library, which included writing copious amount of letters and receiving many visitors. Ever the politician, he remained connected with Washington life and accepted invitations to the White House in both the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations. In his final years, bothered with health problems, he took refuge in music and books. He died the day after Christmas, 1972 and was buried at his presidential library in Independence, with all the pomp and circumstance fitting a former President.

Thus, Ferrell does a very convincing job of making one believe just how important and interesting it is to study Truman, especially since he was so very different from the presidents who had come before and after him.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, foreign policy, Cold War history.

Dull, trite and absolutely riddled with errors. Don't let students read this. Get McCullough's and make them plow through it.

The bibliography and annotations should make this a keeper, as it has become for me. Although I disagreed with the late Dr. Kofsky about the fundamental potential of the species H. sapiens (and thus remained a political opposite, far, far to his right), as his student I continue to marvel at his research a decade after his untimely death. I must concede that it has sadly gone to waste a bit in the text of this book--though good, it's not at all special in the company of its peers. I must also agree that its tendency toward Marxist religious banter (which must inherently replace logical conclusions in Marxist writing) reduces its academic value per se; none the less I still find it beautiful in its architecture. I can only hope that the breadth of his life's work fell intact into the hands of his graduate assistant, who took over instruction in his last days as a professor in Sacramento. Whether it has or not, this book is well worth considering, especially to a student designing his or her own research. Its annotations and bibliography promise an excruciatingly well investigated line of departure for any intended work on the period, right, left, or simply rational. Now, one last comment about the author: he himself was a graduate student of the Robert LeFevre-Howard Zinn lineage, with all its implications about revision of history to fulfil the prophesies of the sans-culottes. (Y'know, I miss the ol' grouch though too.)

Fantastic survey on the industrial and political conditions of the arms race of the 50's and the 60's. At the end, US and the Allies dictated the way the Soviets armed themselves, at the expense of world security and peace.

This has to be the stupidest book I've ever read. It is so completely infantile, it could only have been written by a leftist academic. I am very glad I got this out of the library instead of paying for it.

The best recommendation a book like this can get is a one star pan from an indoctrinated tool of corporate imperialism like the one below.