Truman -- Take 2

On what would be Truman's 136th birthday, I'm announcing that I finally finished reading Truman!  Can you believe it?  I started it (the first time) so many years ago now that I don't even remember when it was.  (According to my own blog's history, it looks like I started it slightly over 5 years ago.)

Initially, I started it as a paper book.  I only got about 30 pages in before getting bored with the early history of the Truman family and giving up.  A year or two later, I gave it a second go, again on paper, and got about halfway through.  I then switched to the ebook (when I could get it from the library; I was alternating their apparently only license with someone else) so that I wouldn't have to carry the book around; it's not mine and I didn't want to damage it too badly, not to mention that it weighs about 30 pounds.  I alternated between paper and ebook until one spring -- 2018? 2019? -- when I needed to work outside so I went hunting for an audiobook.  The only version I could find was abridged, but I went for it.  I finished that some time ago, but still didn't feel quite right not getting the whole story.  (My reading travails with this book are recounted here, here, here, here, here, and here.  Yes, it has been an ordeal.)

So, these many years later, and since I'm home and not going many places, I flipped back to the paper book, picking up where I had left off before the audiobook, and finished it out last Sunday, enjoying a lovely morning and mug of tea al fresco.

My elongated reading experience can be ascribed at least partially to the length of the book, but should not be interpreted as a negative review thereof.  I also had limited reading time until recently, and the time that I had was before bed.  You all know how that goes: read a page or two, realize you're falling asleep and have no idea what you just read.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

I found the material to be interesting overall.  Personally I was more interested in the world history than the political history, but the picture McCullough paints of Truman as such an energetic campaigner and responsible leader made me care about the political portions as well.  Having said that, McCullough has been accused of become overly infatuated with his subjects.  The same could probably be said of Harry Truman.  There are very few critical passages any longer than a sentence or two, and Truman certainly wasn't loved by everyone.  For example, McCullough does acknowledge that his approval ratings were at a low ebb near the end of his presidency, due in large part to the ongoing Korean war, but immediately turns to the recovery of his popularity once he was out of office.

At least as far as the positive aspects of Truman's history goes, the book is thorough.  I can't imagine what a massive research undertaking it must have been.  Often those big projects turn into dry-as-a-bone recitation of the past, but I did not find Truman to be that way at all.  Once I was able to devote the time to it, to really sit down and get comfortable, I found it quite readable and not dry in the least.  Nine hundred and ninety-two pages later, I have a much greater appreciation for the foresight and leadership of the "little man from Missouri."