Truman Books

Like a visit to the Vietnam Memorial, the simplicity of Col. Hopkins' memoir allows the reader a glimpse of something holy. It is a great gift, to be transparent enough to let the sacred show through oneself and one's work. The chaplain's sense of humor -- also a gift -- shines here and there, and his perception of honor illuminates the entire work.
Anyone wishing more information about the realities of the Vietnam war will do well to read this book.

The story and photos tell a very interesting view of going off to war. I had no ideal Chaplains had to do so much. I am using the book for a class report---the details and pictures of the Vietnam war from his perspective are highly recommended. Well written. My thanks to all the Chaplains in our country's service.

An honest, ground-level, and poignant true story of an Army chaplain, Colonel Sam Hopkins, who served with one of the most highly decorated units of the Vietnam war---4th Battalion, 60th Artillery (Dusters). This plainspoken book is highly recommended because it contains none of the vulgarism, horrors, and often John Wayne bravado depicted in many war narratives. Armed with only a Bible and Kodak Instamatic camera, Hopkins takes the reader on a somber, yet at times humerous, journey into the Vietnam war and the lives of the young American soldiers who fought there; faithfully reminding them time and again, that their frail lives belonged to a higher authority---to "Supreme Six," the Army's slang for God. His feelings, doubts, and fears, before, during, and after the war so clearly presented give this book an unequivocal place in Vietnam war literature.

The 2006 D.B. Hardeman Prize for the best book on Congress published in
2005 has been awarded to "The CIA and Congress". Don Bacon, a member of
the award committee, says: "David Barrett has given us an engrossing
account of the highly secret, often contentious relationship between
Congress and its post-World War II creation, the Central Intelligence
Agency. Thoroughly researched, rich in fascinating detail, 'The CIA and
Congress' focuses on the spy agency's early years, when the Cold War was
at its peak. The author relies heavily on previously hidden official
records and his own insightful interviews to show that our lawmakers
worried more about the new agency's potential for mischief and kept it
on a shorter leash than has been previously known."

This book is a necessary read if you are into the history and political analysis of the American government from the 1940s through the 60s. It's a fascinating read. Dr. Barrett has gone to incredible lengths of archival research to write a book that is a truly original voice on the period. As someone who came across the book looking for material on Joe McCarthy, I was amazed at how enjoyable the book was to read just in general. Dr. Barrett has found material to support stories that were merely rumors before. For example, letters from a military officer who was "propositioned" by Senator McCarthy and memos supporting the fact that meetings occurred between the CIA Director and a Congressional subcommittee prior to the Bay of Pigs invasion. This is truly a groundbreaking book that should be required reading for anyone interested in the CIA or Congress.

Barrett's /The CIA and Congress/ is a triumph of research. Writing any history of the CIA is problematic because the documentation will never be close to complete; some official and private papers have been destroyed or "misplaced," others remain classified 50 years or more after being written, and many important discussions and decisions were never committed to paper. Faced with such endemic incompleteness, Barrett, a political scientist at Villanova University, persevered, found widely dispersed research materials and displayed sound analytic sense and balance in their use. Having done so much fine detective work, Barrett can present not only a gripping review of leadership dynamics among the CIA, the White House and Congress but also a coherent view of the development and oversight of the CIA's budgets (a notoriously hard target) from 1947 to 1961. His research is made more impressive by his frankness in admitting on several occasions that he cannot tell the whole story because the documents are not available.

Barrett's analysis of the relationship between the long-established Congress and the infant CIA (founded only in 1947) turns not only on documents but also on his superb portraits and assessments of the key players: The thoughts, actions and characters of senators, congressmen, presidents and CIA officials are front and center in the book. The human pageant Barrett presents is not all that different from that which exists today.

This very personal look at young Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) should be of interest to history buffs and fans of our 33rd President. The book is primarily a collection of letters that Truman sent to his girlfriend (and later wife) Bess Wallace (Truman), the letters being found in her home shortly after she passed away at age 97 in 1982. Most of these letters were written by young suitor Harry Truman prior to the First World War, when he was a struggling farmer and she a desirable beau from a prosperous (if dysfunctional) city family. Sadly, Harry didn't save Bess' letters to him, and those are lost to history. In these letters Truman comes across as decent, honest, and intelligent - if slightly prejudiced against immigrant workers in Kansas City. If his presidential talent isn't evident in these letters, his sturdy Missouri roots clearly are.

First of all, the potential buyer of this book should know that it will throw you back to the years when Harry, the lower-middle-class farmer's boy from outer Jackson County, was courting Bess Wallace, a moderately rich girl and young woman (albeit from a very dysfunctional family) from prosperous Independence. In the 1910s this was done, as it is done in every generation, but only with great difficulty and some soul-searching on both sides.

So buy and read this book if you want to read about young Harry's epic quest. Bess' letters to Harry are lost, but Harry Truman's letters are so vivid that their contents can be partly reconstucted. The two were real soul mates in the end - in the true sense of this most over-used phrase. They could actually converse by letter. How many of us are so lucky?

Buy and read this book if you want to see these two attractive people in the vanished world of 1910s Missouri. If you're looking for President Harry Truman, you won't find much of him here. By 1945 this pair had been married and living together for 25 years and were no longer writing daily letters to each other. But if you are one of those people who think that Truman was one of our greatest Presidents because he never forgot who he was and where he came from, you may want to know where he came from. He came from here, in this book.

The courtship of Harry Truman and Bess Wallace, is *the* over-looked love story of the century. Dear Bess is the most romantic book I have ever read. Harry's simplicity and honesty is a joy to read, and Bess would have been a fool to turn him down a second time.

From a historical standpoint, this book is a glimpse into the everyday, pre-presidential life of HST. The respect and dignity this Missouri farmer had for the Office of the President is refreshing. I come away from the book feeling like I know Harry. Coupling Dear Bess with David McCullough's Truman gives a picture of the man and his times in a very compelling fashion.

Dear Bess is a must-read for anyone who wants to know what love and responsibility are.

The drawings in this book are simply breathtaking in their detail. These lifelike images reflect the human side of a man we only see in formal portraits.

Do yourself a favor and listen to Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" as you gaze at these beautiful illustrations. It's a moving experience.

"Encounters with Lincoln" is a book for all ages about a man for all ages. It captures the image of Abraham Lincoln in different stages of his life, in a range of settings, and with a variety of media, including colored pencil, watercolor, pen and ink, scratchboard, tempera, and graphite pencil.

Encounters with works of art, Thomas Trimborn writes, are uniquely personal. They invite responses from those who experience them. That is particularly true of the images in this book. About twenty offer face-to-face encounters with Lincoln--the young man, the steadfast man (shown in five merged images), the thinker, the melancholy man, the humorous man, the determined man, the eloquent man, the reader, the speaker, the wearer of spectacles, the recipient of tributes. One image, titled "His Eyes Say It All," prompts readers to turn to earlier pages to look again at those transfixing eyes. Trimborn also presents images of persons whose encounters with Lincoln through the years have shaped our perception of the great and complex man, such as Frederick Douglas, Walt Whitman, Carl Sandburg, Mahalia Jackson, Martin Luther King, and John F. Kennedy.

Thomas Trimborn is by profession a musician and music educator at Truman State University, but he is obviously not confined by his discipline or by the walls of his university. To accompany his excellent artwork, Trimborn has crafted a compelling and historically accurate narrative. "Encounters with Lincoln" makes an excellent gift, as my brother-in-law and his grandson, to whom I gave a copy, attest.

Lincoln's image is familiar to virtually all Americans. Yet our easy cultural access to the face so closely identified with the American pursuit of freedom and equality also carries its own limitations. Our photographic record of Lincoln does not begin until the late 1840s, and that legacy often seems to mask as much as it discloses. Historians have lately become more intrigued with Lincoln's darker side, portraying him as moody, unhappy, hamstrung by depression, even suicidal. Any serious scholar of Lincoln knows the sources that can lend support to such inquiries. As is often the case, however, historians committed to deconstructing Lincoln's character become preoccupied with fragments that poorly represent the whole of his humanity, the reflective depth of his spirituality, and the playful yet sophisticated nature of his intellect. In this wonderful volume, Thomas J. Trimborn explores the many sides of Lincoln's character and thankfully never loses sight of the whole. His images--at once haunting, amusing,and inspiring--take us beyond the familiar photographic record and give us a chance to better understand why the nation's sixteenth president is placed at or near the top of nearly any presidential ranking one cares to examine. Trimborn's nimble prose provides fascinating context for his work, but the book is clearly about the art. Make no mistake, this is a frank celebration of Lincoln as author of our modern conceptions of freedom and democracy, but it is a celebration that in the end convinces us that Lincoln deserves every bit of the praise that issues from Trimborn's insightful progression of character studies. Most importantly, the artist presents us not with otherworldly iconography, but a human being whose greatness stemmed from a clear sense of his own limitations. He doubted, he feared, he hoped, and thankfully for us, he fueled his leadership with a capacity to change, to learn, and to explore. The man who in 1861 remained unsure of his racial views and not yet committed to emancipation eventually called the nation to a revolutionary understanding of its political heritage in his address at Gettysburg. Trimborn takes us beyond verbal description and gives us a fresh opportunity to feel Lincoln's passion and purpose. Offered in an affordable format and accessible to all ages, Trimborn's keen artistic vision deserves a prominent place in every Lincoln collection.

A wonderful reflection of a generation as much as a collection of effective recipes. It doesn't just seem appropriate that the subject of fruitcake stirs this focused book. The times were tough and the cake ingredients reflected that. Speaking of charmingly tough, Marie Rudisill's moments with Mel Gibson and Jay Leno should make the Late Night hall of fame. As a Capote aunt, you'd almost expect a wry scolding, but with both men up to their wrists in fruitcake batter, the pleadings to be careful with her prized recipe were loving and comfortable. So is this book.

Marie Rudisill is absolutely fabulous with this fruitcake book. This is by far the most wonderful cook book i have ever seen in my entire life. I was also able to read other of Rudisills books and she is one of the best writers there is and has ever been. Two thumbs up to Rudisill on the Jay Leno show. She was funny keeping Jay and Mel Gibson in line. I strongly recommend everyone to try this delightful fruitcake book. Check out The Southern Haunting of Truman Capote, it was inspiring learning about his childhood in the south.

MARIE RUDISILL HAS OUT DONE HERSELF WITH THIS FANTASTIC BOOK. IT NOT ONLY GIVES WONDERFUL RECEIPS IT ALSO SHARES MEMORIES OF TRUMAN CAPOTE AND SOOK FAULK..THIS IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THIS BEST COOKBOOK I HAVE EVER OWNED. I ALSO HAD THE PLEASURE OF SEEING MS. RUDISILL ON THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO AND MEL GIBSON, THIS WAS THE BEST EPSIODE I EVER SAW..SHE HAD NO TROUBLE KEEPING THESE TWO MEN IN LINE, AND IT SEEMED THEY ENJOYED EVERY BIT OF IT...

Young Snowflower lives with her grandmother, Dame Frostyface, in a little cottage at the edge of a forest. The two are very poor, and own only a cat, two hens, a bed of dried grass, and one good piece of furniture: "a great armchair with wheels on its feet, a black velvet cushion, and many curious carvings of flowers and fawns on its dark oaken back."

One day, Dame Frostyface leaves to visit her aunt, and asks Snowflower to remain behind. She tells the girl that the fancy armchair was made by a cunning fairy, and that it is enchanted. If Snowflower should feel lonely, she should lay her head gently on the cushion of the armchair and say, "Chair of my grandmother, tell me a story. Should Snowflower have the occasion to travel, she should sit in the chair and say, "Chair of my grandmother, take me such a way."

After an interval of solitude, Snowflower's food stores are nearly depleted, so she decides to travel in the armchair along the same path her grandmother took. While journeying, she hears that King Winwealth plans to give a seven day feast to celebrate the birth of his only daughter, Princess Greedalind. Snowflower, who is quite hungry, wishes to share in the feast, and travels to the palace in the enchanted armchair.

Since the disappearance of his brother, Prince Wisewit, King Winwealth has been an unhappy ruler, especially since his marriage to the covetous and disagreeable Queen Wantall and the birth of their unpleasant child. The King's low spirits prompt his favorite page to suggest that Snowflower's chair might provide some diversion, so she and the chair are summoned to the banquet each evening to entertain the king.

Each evening, the chair tells a different story until a total of seven stories are told: "The Christmas Cuckoo", "The Lords of the White and Grey Castles", "The Greedy Shepard", "The Story of Fairyfoot", "The Story of Childe Charity", "Sour and Civil", and "The Story of Merrymind". As each consecutive evening passes, the king's depression lifts and Snowflower's situation improves, until all of the stories end happily together.

This wonderful collection of creative and pleasing stories will entertain fairytale enthusiasts of all ages.

Frances Browne, the author of this enchanting and original collection of fairy tales lived between 1816 and 1879. She was blinded by smallpox when she was a baby and so all of the vivid descriptions in this charming book are from her own memory of the tales that she heard as a child and from her colorful imagination. In 1904 Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote an introduction for a new edition of the book because as a little child she had won a copy of it as a prize for good behavior in school. It became her favorite book but was lost to her over the years. She searched high and low for it and it eventually surfaced in Boston and again in a second hand shop in London. This edition contains the introduction by Burnett that is certainly an added treat. It is brilliantly illustrated by Switzerland's Gisele Rime with her characteristic bright colors and whimsical decorative borders. Unlike other collections of fairy tales these are completely original and bring us new characters and plots with gentle moral lessons. The fame of Frances Browne may not approach the Grimms or Andersen but the beauty and cleverness of her tales will enchant and delight you just the same. Curl up in Granny's wonderful chair, snuggle close and follow the stories of Fairyfoot and Childe Charity, Prince Wisewit and Merry Mind. Meet the Lords of the White and Grey Castles. This is a grand experience not just a good book.

Do you remember visiting Grandma as a child? Perhaps snuggling into her favorite chair when you were too tired to possibly do anything else? Do you recall the comfort, the smell, the feel, the total release of 'Grandma's' chair? This was one my of favorite 'escape' books as a child. I would curl up in 'Granny's Wonderful Chair' and be transported to many a wonderous place. I have searched for many years for this title, and was so excited to see it unearthed for republishing! We will be reading it aloud as a family now. Granny's Wonderful Chair is a great addition not only to your library, but to you and your children's memory's as well!

I read this one only in Japanese,but it has been one of my best storys. I think this is not as perfect as "Other voice,_" but,or therefor,I can feel something that I used to have,and now gone enywhere,from this novel.

I ESPECIALLY LIKED IT WHEN SISTER IDA CAME INTO TOWN.HER 15 CHILDREN NEEDED TO APPEAR MORE OFTEN.I WAS IN LOVE WITH THE CROSSED EYED TWIN

The Grass Harp is a perfect and beautiful piece of American fiction. I have read this novel at least ten times, and each time it moves me. The language is rich and textured, the characters are real and true, the story is simple and touching. To read Capote is to fall in love with an American South that is no more- a time and place that can only exist in the imagination.

As far as self-contained superhero origins go, Hawkworld is one of the best for the DC heroes. It's on par with Batman: Year One, George Perez's Wonder Woman, and John Byrne's Man of Steel as far as origins go. It's a shame DC messed up the character afterwards, but this story stands alone incredibly well. Hawkworld is gritty, smart and action-packed, with fantastic art.

Truman is just generally very good. Hawkworld is no different. A must, if you like this sort of thing.

Forget everything you thought you knew about Hawkman. In this 1989 overhaul of the Silver Age character, Katar Hol's a wingman in the military, and his home planet Thanagar is fueled by conquest. But with that conquest comes the stink of corruption and the burdens of overpopulation. When Katar tumbles onto a conspiracy concerning the downtrodden citizens "Downside," he winds up completely broken in spirit and commits the most unspeakable acts imaginable. The depths Katar Hol sinks to will make you hate him- and when he reaches the end of a hard-traveled road to redemption, you'll cheer for him.

Knowing the history of the exploration of this magnificent park makes me even more anxious to visit this beautiful country. After reading this book, when I visit YSNP, I will focus on a time long ago, when all the modern conveniences were not there. It is a great book to have read to get some of the background knowledge of this area, before you go out and explore yourself!

Today, being lost in Yellowstone National Park is as simple as turning on the wrong road after you lost your complimentary map or you can not locate the restroom in the Old Faithful complex. For Truman Everts, being lost in Yellowstone was a struggle between life and death. Everts's account details his 1870 adventure in Yellowstone after finding himself separated from his travelling companions. The separation began Everts's thirty-seven day struggle for survival in a pre-developed Yellowstone in which Everts had to find what little food and shelter he could just to survive. Readers will find this account to be a real-life struggle for survival reminiscent of Jack London's fictional work. The editor, Lee Whittlesey, does a superb job of editing Everts's story by providing the reader with additional information and the historical background of the book. The work is also illustrated with many early day photographs of Yellowstone which provides an stunning visual account of early-day Yellowstone National Park. This book will be appreciated by anyone looking for an exciting true-life adventure story as well as historians of the American West. People who have been "lost" recently in Yellowstone will also appreciate the book, even if their modern-day adventure pales in comparison to Evert's

Besides being one of those - Why haven't I heard of this story before? - adventure stories, this book offers a great opportunity to further enhance the Yellowstone experience.

I read this book while staying in a ranch outside Yellowstone National Park. As luck would have it, our first day of "touring" the park via automobile closely paralleled Truman's path, and I managed to read this story aloud to the kids later that night, in front of a big cast iron stove, while Clark's Fork gurgled 30 feet from the door. I'm not sure if it was the story or the setting, but they were captivated! They were able to tie Truman's adventures in with many of the places we had been earlier that day, and it gave them an entirely different perspective of the park. In addition to bringing the book to life (again - what a story!), it contributed immensely to their appreciation of Truman's ordeal, the magnitude of the park and the wilderness that lies 100 yards off the main roads... Highly recommended.

This book speaks to more audiences than any other I've recently read.

It is, as advertised, a story about what "welfare reform" means in one state (Illinois.) But its a lot more. It is the story of one man's late mid-life crisis and how he tries to make the world a better place. (Would that Steve Forbes read this book and decided to do something with a better chance of paying off than run for president.) Its a "true story of people in inner city" Chicago in the tradition of Alex Kotlowitz and Nick Lehmann. But its also the story of the people who make up the rules faced by those real people: the street level bureaucrats who make the rules into "yes" and "no" answers, the senior bureaucrats who are between the street level bureaucrats and the legislators who make the decisions.

I especially liked having a state-level perspective on "how our laws are made." I haven't seen a book from a personal perspective as good as this since Eric Redman's "The Dance of Legislation." And its the first time I've seen one from a state-level perspective. (It will remind you all over again of why there is the adage: "Two things you don't want to see being made -- sausage and legislation.")

One of the happy lessons of the national welfare reform experiment is that the interests of the poor and the business community need not be at odds. Both business leaders and business practices have much to offer the reform effort. Gary MacDougal is a business leader who traveled far and worked doggedly to make his own powerfully constructive offer - and to make it concrete. In doing so, MacDougal belied the myth perpetuated by those who fret that business leaders poking around social welfare programs will focus only on cutting costs and will leave the poor stranded at the doors of shuttered programs. But that was not MacDougal's vision - far from it.

In the midst of a successful business career, MacDougal went to Nepal and came down from the mountain with a desire to make a difference. After selling his business, he was free of all of the usual agendas -- whether of the left, right, party politics, turf, personal business interests, or a bureaucracy to defend, and he decided to make his contribution by offering a governor his help in leading a human services reform effort. The Governor said thanks, and MacDougal went on to challenge seven entrenched bureaucracies, the legislature, providers, and the unions. His good listening ear allowed him to hear fully from the clients of the system, as well as all the other players as they described (and often defended) the jumbled mess that called itself human services delivery. His heart told him there had to be a better way to serve families. And his business experience and acumen told him that the other way would have to be a customer first model that coordinated and redesigned the system based on the perspectives and needs of the communities to be served.

His plan was adopted by Illinois, where he focused his efforts. It puts families first. It insists on seamless service delivery of services in a now-consolidated human services agency that he helped create shape. And his plan is grounded in a from-the-ground-up local systems design intended to respond to the unique needs of each community where services are delivered. Now that most welfare families with the fewest personal and social problems are working, other states would do well to look at MacDougal's model of coordinated service delivery to address the far more complex needs of those families who remain on welfare.

-- This by an attorney who has represented the poor for twenty years.

Too often, discussions of our welfare system are in an ideological context - the left or the right. In this splendid and highly readable book, Gary MacDougal shows that perhaps the too-long neglected pragmatic perspective is the most important.

As a citizen-volunteer, Mr. MacDougal led the Governor's task force charged with fundamentally restructuring the Illinois welfare system, which administers a highly fragmented hodge-podge of state- and federally-funded programs. To this assignment he brought unique qualifications: He is an experienced and successful business executive. However, unlike many businessmen, he had enough political exposure to understand how things get done in the public sector. He is also a leader in the human services philanthropic sector. Finally, he took the time to go where few policy makers go, to meet the welfare "customers," and to learn first hand what happens at every level of the welfare system.

Make no mistake about it, what Mr. MacDougal and his Illinois task force accomplished is truly historic. Over many decades, in the face of widely recognized flaws and inefficiencies in our welfare system, no other state has been able to implement such a far-reaching, systemic reform. They say that legislation (and government organization studies) are like sausage - watching either one of them being made is not a pretty sight. However, this compelling book is an engaging, even at times heart-warming saga that brings to life the complexities of government in the real world. Hopefully some readers will want to step up to be part of similar initiatives in their own states.

In the end, one can't help but conclude that Mr. MacDougal's triumph was basically a tenacious exercise in common sense (albeit at the highest professional level!). Which raises the question, why doesn't the American electorate demand this level of common sense in other areas of public policy, rather than fifteen-second sound bites?