Overview
"Dewey Defeats Truman" proclaimed the faulty Chicago Tribune headline. For weeks leading up to the 1948 presidential election, newspapers, magazines, and the political experts had predicted that Harry S. Truman would lose. The experts were wrong. Truman won the election and proved that he deserved to be the President of the United States, an office which he had inherited after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945. During his years as President, Truman worked to end World War II, helped to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and led the fight to prevent the spread of communism throughout the world. He was also the first leader to recognize the nation of Israel. In Harry S. Truman, Revised Edition, author Michael A. Schuman explores the life and accomplishments of this remarkable man in this updated and revised book. Truman proved himself an honest man who was willing to hold to his beliefs even in the face of disapproval. He will always be known as one of our country's greatest Presidents.Explores the life and political accomplishments of Harry S. Truman, including the Truman Doctrine and his decision to drop the atomic bomb.
Editorials
School Library Journal
Gr 6-8This superficial biography of Truman begins with his 1948 electoral triumph, then covers his entire life in straightforward chronological order. Schuman discusses his subject's upbringing and private life as well as his many public-service achievements. He is admiring of Truman, rating him as one of our greatest presidents, but does criticize some of his early racial prejudices. This book is lively and interesting, but the author provides only limited background information and does not offer much detail about many of Truman's presidential actions and decisions. The most serious weakness, however, is that the narrative skips from topic to topic, and relatively minor events are given the same weight as major decisions and policies. Average quality, black-and-white photos and copies of source documents add little to the text. Jeffrey Morris's The Truman Way (Lerner, 1994), which offers introductory biographical information and then devotes an entire detailed chapter, complete with background information and analysis, to each of this president's major decisions, is a far better choice for general readers and researchers.Mary Mueller, Rolla Junior High School, MOKirkus Reviews
Workmanlike but involving, this well-organized and fact-rich biography in the United States Presidents series gives readers a balanced assessment of the 33rd President.All the necessary information is included here: Truman's childhood, education, family, career choices, political achievements, and, notably, his presidency. Although it lasted less than two full terms, it included the decision to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the end of the war on both fronts, the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine, the Tart-Hartley Act, the beginning of the Cold War, the McCarthy hearings, and the start of the Korean War. Schuman (Elie Wiesel, 1994, etc.) breaks no ground but covers the material reliably and readably. With few biographies of Truman available, this is an accessible, on-target entry.