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    Truman
    Truman
    Truman
    Audiobook54 hours

    Truman

    Written by David McCullough

    Narrated by Nelson Runger

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateMar 8, 2011
    ISBN9781442342156
    Author

    David McCullough

    David McCullough (1933–2022) twice received the Pulitzer Prize, for Truman and John Adams, and twice received the National Book Award, for The Path Between the Seas and Mornings on Horseback. His other acclaimed books include The Johnstown Flood, The Great Bridge, Brave Companions, 1776, The Greater Journey, The American Spirit, The Wright Brothers, and The Pioneers. He was the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. Visit DavidMcCullough.com.

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    Reviews for Truman

    4.5/5

    1,047 ratings62 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Bizarrely readable for its thousand pages, even when McCullough is harping on how healthy Truman is. Focus never departs from the subject, even though it must have been tempting to digress into analysis of the atomic bomb, the Korean war, life after the Presidency, etc. When there is conflicting information, McCullough often quotes both sources, and indicates which seems more accurate, which makes him seem trustworthy as a biographer. Although I should admit I never once looked at the endnotes or bibliography (992 pages is quite enough!).

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5
      que mierda de videojuego trucho pinche lanzaa a la verga forro de mierda jajajaja xdxdxddx viva oscurlod is than better than ninja puto noob violadooooor
    • 5/5
      Story of a great American president during some of the nation’s most challenging times.
    • 5/5
      Simply outstanding in every way. Was sad to come to the end of it. This biography is worthy of Truman himself.
    • 5/5
      Not a dry history book, but a lively and very interesting story of a real man in an extraordinary time. McCullough’s writing makes you feel like you know the man. It was also very well read.
    • 5/5
      Feel free to skip around. I skipped his grandparents time.
    • 5/5
      Fantastic story of a fantastic man. Truly one of the most amazing autobiographical stories of the 20th Century. A must read for all history lovers and patriots alike.
    • 5/5
      Best book on Truman ever written. Long, but very well with it
    • 5/5
      He outlived Churchill, FDR, Eisenhower and Marshall. One of the greats who when re-examined by historians is given a more fair assessment.

      Outstanding book.
    • 5/5
      Truly an excellent biography. President Truman really comes to life.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this thorough book from start to finish. I knew little of Harry S Truman before beginning and I'm shocked at my ignorance given that he was at the centre of so many huge decisions in the 20th century. Beautiful read.
    • 5/5
      He was just a great, great, great Man,
      and the narrator is The Best.
      Thank you!!
    • 5/5
      monumental. better than I expected, you will love it.Wow.I couldn't put it down.
    • 5/5
      The gap between Truman and Trump is nearly inconceivable. While the former was a man of lowly birth who put his country before self, the latter was born into privilege and always made self paramount. Surrounded by brilliance in his advisers, Truman’s ethics led him to the admit his failings and to strive to “do what is right.” Selecting incompetence and even criminally in his advisers, Trump is incapable of self examination and seemingly free of morality. Mister Truman led a struggling people to great things; Trump joins the chorus of those who live by fear.
      David McCullough has done a brilliant job in writing about the man and the President, his family and his advisors. Truman left behind a vast treasure of letters - candid and personal. McCullough quotes extensively from the best of these. Bravo!
    • 5/5
      This book took a while to get through but I came away with a much better understanding of political history. I was left feeling like I really knew the man. A great listen
    • 5/5
      How does one write a meaningful review of a 992-page book that covers a broad swath of United States history? David McCullough doesn?t waste a word as he writes about Harry Truman the Man, who was devoted to his family and loyal to his friends, and Harry Truman the President, who loved his country and served it to the best of his ability. One would be mistaken to think that there were two different versions of Harry Truman. His equal allotments of humor, humility, and high-mindedness governed both the private and public sides of his life. His response to questions from reporters on his first day of becoming the 33rd President of the U. S. (and the 7th VP thrust into office after the sudden death of the President) was typical: ?Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now. I don?t know whether you fellows ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me yesterday what had happened, I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me.?Truman faced many challenges that shaped history during his two terms in office. He is probably best known for the decision to use atomic force to expedite the end of WWII. He was also responsible for fostering the Civil Rights movement, establishing Israel as an independent nation, and instituting NATO, the Truman Doctrine, and the Marshall Plan. He even got involved in renovating the White House which was in danger of being condemned. One of the biggest thorns in his side was North Korea and the resulting ?police action? as he preferred to call the war against Communist invasion. He also didn?t like the prevailing term of ?Cold War? and called his relationship with Stalin ?the war of nerves.? Truman was sustained through all this turmoil by a quote from another Missourian, Mark Twain: ?Always do right! This will gratify some and astonish the rest.?After spending many hours reading this fine Pulitzer winning work by McCullough, I am proud to call myself a Missourian. Truman worked hard to be a decent man doing the decent thing. I personally enjoyed the references to Harry Truman as a reader. Since I am addressing fellow book lovers, I?ll conclude with Harry?s idea of heaven according to his daughter Margaret: ??to have a good comfortable chair, a good reading lamp, and lots of books around that he wanted to read.? A fine ending to a fine life. Harry Truman died on December 26, 1972 at age 88 in Kansas City, Missouri. He and his wife Bess, who died ten years later, are buried in the courtyard of the Truman Library located in their beloved Independence, Missouri.
    • 5/5
      I got to visit his library and I love history. Covered him completely. Thanks Steve
    • 5/5
      One of the best biographies I have ever read. What a wonderful man.
    • 5/5
      Fantastic through and through. Wish I could meet Harry. AND....McCullough, too.
    • 5/5
      Outstanding book. Every candidate for President of the United States should read.
    • 5/5
      A wonderful, abbreviated version of the David McCullough biography of President Harry S. Truman. No one narrates quite like McCullough (unless it’s Peter Cayote), and he is at his best with the narration of this book. If I came away with one thing having listened to this book it’s that Harry Truman should be recognized as one of the greatest president in our nation’s history. Unlikely as his rise to the White House was, he met the challenge with somewhat feigned confidence and total devotion to the job. And meet the challenges of the office he did. I have a new respect for Truman after listening to the McCullough biography. I’m glad I listened to it.
    • 4/5
      Bizarrely readable for its thousand pages, even when McCullough is harping on how healthy Truman is. Focus never departs from the subject, even though it must have been tempting to digress into analysis of the atomic bomb, the Korean war, life after the Presidency, etc. When there is conflicting information, McCullough often quotes both sources, and indicates which seems more accurate, which makes him seem trustworthy as a biographer. Although I should admit I never once looked at the endnotes or bibliography (992 pages is quite enough!).
    • 4/5
      A detailed, but mostly not too detailed, history of the life and Presidency of Harry Truman. From his pioneer roots to the atomic age, he lived in an era of massive change. Through it he was kind, generous and honest. I thought this was an excellent story about his life and presidency and it greatly enhanced my understanding of him and the times. Well written and interesting.
    • 4/5
      Long but a very good read. I didn't know much about Truman before reading this and now I feel like I know him like a friendly neighbor.
    • 4/5
      Well-written and -researched and an interesting, illuminating read. I would have given this five stars if it wasn't so damned long.
    • 5/5
      Born in Missouri a generation after it was the western frontier of the young nation, he led an emerging superpower into the atomic age at the end of the largest war in human history. Truman is all-encompassing biography of the 33rd President of the United States by one of the best biographers and historians of the past half century, David McCullough.McCullough begins by quickly covering the lives of Truman’s grandparents and parents who relocated and lived on the frontier of Missouri beginning 40 years before his birth. McCullough then guides the reader through Truman’s childhood as his father attempt to succeed in various businesses with mild to no success while young Harry went through school and attempt to strike out on his own in nearby Kansas City until finally joining his family when they went working his maternal grandmother’s large farm that he would continue to work until he joined the Army in 1917 where he would see combat as a Captain of the artillery during the Hundred Days Offensive that led to the armistice. After the war, Truman opened a business that started well but failed during the recession of 1921 after which he turned to attention to politics and becoming a part of the Pendergast political machine. Successful in his first campaign to be a county administrative judge, he failed in reelection only to succeed in the next election to becoming the presiding judge which was a position he used to transform Jackson County with numerous public works that eventually gets him noticed by the new Roosevelt administration that eventually got him a position in the New Deal programs in Missouri. After Pendergast rejected Truman for a run for governor or Congress, he selected him a run for Senate in 1934 and Truman’s victory in the primary he was considered the Pendergast Senator not a Missourian. Through hard work during his term, Truman became a respected member of the Senate but when he went to be reelected, the Pendergast machine was in disarray due to various federal criminal trials and the Roosevelt administration didn’t support him, he was in a uphill battle. In a forerunner to his 1948 upset, Truman outworked his opponents and received support from the St. Louis political machine, which had opposed Pendergast’s Kansas City machine for decades, to a slim victory. During his second term, Truman became a national figure with his Select Committee to Investigate Defense Spending that investigated wasteful spending that saved roughly $15 billion that eventually would get him to be selected as Roosevelt’s 1944 Vice Presidential running mate that was essentially a nomination to be Roosevelt’s successor because everyone knew he would not live out his term. Truman’s nearly 8 years in office cover nearly 60% of the book that started off with his decisions and actions for the five months that dealt with challenges that no other President save Lincoln had to deal with. The challenges of a post-war America especially in the economic sphere led to a Republican takeover of Congress that many blamed Truman for, who used the loss to his advantage to stake differences between both parties that would eventually lead to his strategy for the 1948 Presidential campaign that led to him becoming President in his own right. Truman’s second term was dominated by his decision to military intervene in Korea that would lead to a confrontation with General Douglas McArthur that put civilian control of the military at stake, but also would continually lead to charges of Communist subversion of government jobs that reached a fever pitch with Joseph McCarthy. Once out of office, Truman transitioned to a regular citizen and began figuring out how to financially support his family, which eventually lead to Presidential pension laws for Truman and future holders of the office and creating the Presidential Library system that we know today. But after leaving office very unpopular, Truman’s popularity grew over the two decades of his post-Presidency so upon his death he was genuinely mourned by the public.McCullough’s writing reads like a novel with his subject his main character and every other individual in a supporting character to reflect upon the protagonist. As I noted in my synopsis, most of the book covers Truman’s time in office that McCullough documents with detail and when doing a Presidential biography of the man who essentially had to deal with the end of the largest war in human history and the beginning of the Cold War is to be expected. With documentation of Truman’s early life not a prevalent, McCullough’s decision to turn a spotlight to his grandparents and parents at the beginning of the book and throughout Truman’s life added depth to the man and the also the area where he grew up and shaped him.Truman brings the humble man from Missouri to life for those that have only seen him in black and white photographs and film, David McCullough’s writing hooks the reader from the beginning and makes you want to see how Harry S. Truman’s life played out in all facets.
    • 3/5
      Too long and detailed. I didn't finish because I have to take it back to the library. I did read until HST became a senator, then I just looked up things of my interest in the index. Interesting about "The buck stops here" which he kept as a sign on his desk. I'm sure I'd rate it higher if I could plough through the whole book.
    • 4/5
      Well written, well organised. The author does a notably fine job of showing Truman as human and therefore flawed. These flaws were not crippling and he was a good man. His political origins were out of the Pendergrast machine and it is notable that he seems to have grown past that potentially crippling connection. The contrast with Roosevelt is stark - FDR was the quintessential example of speaking to the room while Truman seemed to genuinely value the truth. A really fine book.
    • 5/5
      Truman is the best audio book by David McCullough that I have listened to so far. The narrator was the author. I picked this one because I really did not know very much about Truman except for his morning constitutionals and seeing the picture of him holding up the newspaper that said that Dewey had won. Coming from the Midwest, I was impressed that he was so humble and actually self-deprecating. This may be a regional trait. I tended to be the same way until I had to learn not to be for job interviews. His world opened up for him when he first got his glasses, he share that experience with Teddy Roosevelt. Another Midwestern trait was to be a reader, he and his friend read a whole public library. That warms my heart as I did too although, I did skip all the math and business books. He had good grades and good manners and worked as a bank teller until he was called home by his father to work the family farm. I also got the message that his actions were more statesman than politician which makes me extremely happy. What I liked best about this audio book was that actual recordings of his famous speeches were included. That made the story seem more real. Also it ended with a recording of Truman playing the Black Hawk Waltz on the piano. I cannot form my total opinion of him yet except that he was a fine Midwesterner. I think the story stayed away from negative criticism so I plan to read more about it. So this portrayal was mostly positive.
    • 4/5
      I listened to the condensed version of this very long McCullough tome. It was about right, so those who complain about the 998 page version should be warned. The condensed version provides just enough facts for the average reader. If you are doing a PhD thesis on the Truman decision process however, don't read the short version. I learned that he was a successful farmer and a not so successful haberdasher, for which he is known. His military service was exemplary during WWI. And, he was apparently an active VP for the 80+ days that he held the job, additionally, well respected in Congress. Stalin underestimated him and probably misjudged as he urged Korea and China to enter/initiate the Korean conflict. Well written, the condensed version probably skipped some elements that I'll never know, but I liked it. (less) .