Harry S. Truman, Robert Dallek
Harry S. Truman, Robert Dallek
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Harry S. Truman
The American Presidents Series: The 33rd President, 1945-1953

Author: Robert Dallek, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Sean Wilentz

Narrator: William Dufris

Unabridged: 5 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/02/2008

Synopsis

The plainspoken man from Missouri who never expected to be president yet rose to become one of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century

In April 1945, after the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the presidency fell to a former haberdasher and clubhouse politician from Independence, Missouri. Many believed he would be overmatched by the job, but Harry S. Truman would surprise them all.

Few chief executives have had so lasting an impact. Truman ushered America into the nuclear age, established the alliances and principles that would define the cold war and the national security state, started the nation on the road to civil rights, and won the most dramatic election of the twentieth century—his 1948 "whistlestop campaign" against Thomas E. Dewey.

Robert Dallek, the bestselling biographer of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, shows how this unassuming yet supremely confident man rose to the occasion. Truman clashed with Southerners over civil rights, with organized labor over the right to strike, and with General Douglas MacArthur over the conduct of the Korean War. He personified Thomas Jefferson's observation that the presidency is a "splendid misery," but it was during his tenure that the United States truly came of age.

About Robert Dallek

Robert Dallek is the author of several bestselling presidential histories, including Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power; An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963; and the classic two-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson, Lone Star Rising and Flawed Giant. He has taught at Columbia, Oxford, UCLA, Boston University, and Dartmouth, and has won the Bancroft Prize, among numerous other awards for scholarship and teaching. He lives in Washington, D.C.

About Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., (1917-2007) was the preeminent political historian of our time. For more than half a century, he was a cornerstone figure in the intellectual life of the nation and a fixture on the political scene. He won two Pulitzer prizes for The Age of Jackson (1946) and A Thousand Days (1966), and in 1988 received the National Humanities Medal. He published the first volume of his autobiography, A Life in the Twentieth Century, in 2000.

About Sean Wilentz

Sean Wilentz, a professor of history at Princeton University, is the author or editor of several books, including Chants Democratic and The Rise of American Democracy. He has also written for The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, and other publications. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

About William Dufris

William Dufris began his audio career in London, England. He co-found the audio production company The Story Circle, Ltd in the UK. In the US, he founded Mind’s Eye Productions and co-founded Rocky Coast Radio Theatre in addition to The AudioComics Company, for which he is producer, director, actor and engineer. Durfis was nominated six times as a finalist for the APA's prestigious Audie Awards. He garnered eighteen Golden Earphones Awards through AudioFile magazine, which honored him as one of The Best Voices at the End of the Century. Of his work, AudioFile said, "William Dufris commands a dazzling array of voices that bring to life the dozens of audiobooks he’s narrated." His audiobook credits include many of Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen, Ph.D.'s works, such as Days of Infamy and Pearl Harbor, in addition to George McGovern’s Abraham Lincoln, Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon and John Scalzi’s The Ghost Bridges.Dufris acted on stage and in television and is best known as the original North American voice of the cartoon character Bob in Nickelodeon's popular children's show, Bob the Builder. Additionally, he worked with legendary director Dirk Maggs on his audio drama productions of Spider-Man.

Reviews

Goodreads review by robin on September 03, 2024

A President In Perilous Times With the death of President Franklin Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, Vice-President Harry Truman (1884 -- 1972) became the 33d president of the United States. Truman served through what would have been virtually the entirety of Roosevelt's fourth term and then won an upset......more

Goodreads review by Steve on November 04, 2016

[URL not allowed] “Harry S. Truman” is Robert Dallek’s 2008 biography of the 33rd president and is a member of the American Presidents Series. Dallek is an author, historian and retired professor focusing on the U.S. presidents. He has written nearly two dozen books including a......more

Goodreads review by Jim on April 04, 2017

Like Truman's daily walks in D.C., this biography of our 33rd president trots along at a brisk pace, providing a balanced and engaging portrait of a leader who was savaged in his own lifetime, only to be revered in posterity. Definitely worth taking in. I learned a great deal in a mere 150 pages. An......more

Goodreads review by Paul on February 28, 2021

Seems like a pretty decent distillation of Truman scholarship, which is most likely only so extensive because of the pivotal time in which he was President. Long on policy, short on psychoanalysis, and I like that.......more

Goodreads review by Joey on October 01, 2020

The tail-end of nearly 20 years of liberal, big government policies and wars is difficult to make look good.......more

Quotes

"Like so many other biographies in the splendid American Presidents series, Dallek's little book is now the best starting point for knowledge of Truman's life and for an astute assessment of his career. " - Publishers Weekly

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