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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was a chunky monkey! Solid presidential biography. Beginning was a little cloying and overly fawning for someone who did a lot of failing up. But as Truman‘s career gained heft, so did the book. Worth a read if presidential biographies are your thing!

Sniffing around some presidential biographies

I finally finished this book!

Truman is an interesting character- McCullough said he lived in a time of lost certainties and rocket ships to the moon. This book does a really good job of breaking down all he lived through, his decisions while president, and his really fascinating post presidential life. I recommend this book if you‘ve got the time!

#NFNov

#TIL that Truman lobbied Congress for an allowance for former Presidents in order to pay office expenses. Sounds like he needed it. #NFNov

#TIL that Truman tried to take a road trip after he was president, but the press kept showing up. #NFNov

#TIL that when Truman left Eisenhower‘s inauguration his limo stopped at a traffic light on the way to lunch, and it was the first time he had to do that in almost 8 years.

#NFNov

(Getting close to the end of this interesting but very long biography. Hoping to finish this month.)

#TIL that President Andrew Jackson beat off a would be shooter with a cane. #NFNov

I finally finished this behemoth. It‘s an excellent book! If you are looking for a biography of Truman, I highly recommend this one. This book is also very well annotated, which is something I always look for with historical/biographical books. I‘m so glad I read this one.

#TIL That the FBI gave Dewey information to defeat Truman in the presidential election. (It didn‘t work.) #NFNov

So odd to read about my home town in history books. Due to Churchill giving his Sinews of Peace speech (better known the Iron Curtain address) in Fulton in 1946, we have a Christopher Wren church and a segment of the Berlin Wall at what is now the National Churchill Museum. It‘s kinda nifty. Here‘s the link to the museum if you‘d like to see pictures and such: https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/

I wanted to share a great resource I got over at the Plodding Through the Presidents page in Facebook land with y‘all. This link is to a blog that has biographies of all the presidents. I am trying to read a biography on every president and this resource is pretty awesome if you are into that sort of thing. Screen shot of the blog homepage so you can see if you may be interested.

https://bestpresidentialbios.com/curriculum/

The definitive biography of a much misunderstood man.

I love it when a bookstore recommends heavyweights like Truman 😍 #Strand

Completed for the “something about politics” box in the #nonfiction2019 challenge. Excellent and comprehensive (at 1,200+ pages, VERY comprehensive) look at Harry Truman‘s life before, during and after his presidency. I learned a lot and came away with an appreciation for Harry that I never had before. Another winner by the fabulous David McCullough (this book won the Pulitzer, actually).

@Riveted_Reader_Melissa

Every year I select a book that is approximately 1,000 pages long (no less than 900) and begin reading it on Jan. 1, with the intention of getting through it at a leisurely pace. I aim for at least 100 pages per week, and allow myself to read other books simultaneously. This enables me to complete chunksters with very little pressure. This year‘s pick was David McCullough‘s biography of Harry Truman. Finished it today—all 1,206 pages. 👍🏼

Mine too, Harry. That‘s my idea of heaven, too. 🥰

Harry Truman on June 20, 1956.

Interesting commentary from Harry S Truman.
In 1948. 😳

Harry Truman made this comment about his daughter, Margaret, being a “nice girl.” But now all I want to do is find out what Alice Roosevelt and the Wilson girls were up to. 🧐😊

Thank you, Harry. Yes, it is indeed remarkable how much could be accomplished in Washington if people weren‘t concerned about who gets the credit. 🧐 #imisshavingafunctionalgovernment

Fascinating...in 1946, President Truman was trying to get universal healthcare for all Americans. IN 1946. And yet here we still are.

In the first hours after FDR's death, Eleanor Roosevelt was more concerned about Harry Truman than she was for herself. That is a composure -- and a compassion-- I'm not sure I'd be capable of. 😳

And also? That last sentence gave me chills.

Kicking off #winterstormreadathon by snuggling into my #cozyreadingnook with my #stack of nonfiction books and my #hotbeverage --tea, of course! 🙂

@MrBook @BookBabe

Thankful for a broken leg because it meant more time for reading? Gee, Harry S. Truman certainly sounds like a fellow Litten. 😳😀📚

Since 2011 I've had an annual tradition: I pick a chunkster book that's approximately 1,000 pages and start it on Jan. 1, and then read a chapter a day until I'm done (while also reading other books that are easier to carry around!) I also alternate fiction and nonfiction. For 2019 it's nonfiction. So the winner is: "Truman" by David McCullough (1120 pages). Here we go! ?

Truman! Long time no see! I abandoned him 8 years ago because it was too heavy to read McCullough‘s works one after another (I just finished John Adams at that time).

I kinda miss Truman now... 😿

I know how to do Saturday nights

Just a short book about Truman for some light bedtime reading.

We were traveling yesterday so I wasn't able to post so this is one day late but when my bf heard about the #someoneelsesbooks prompt he was so excited about having his books featured that I had to post anyway! #riotgrams

All these #chunksters are all on my tbr except East of Eden which I am almost finished with! #splashintosummerreads

#feistyfeb #presidentialreads

I've had this on my shelf for years, but have never attempted it. It's over 1,000 pages! 😱

#tbr #nonfiction @RealLifeReading

Since I'm a history instructor, I read a LOT in school, but the first book to come to mind for #readinschool today was Truman by McCullough. It is expansive and detailed and you'll learn that the S in Harry S Truman doesn't have a period because it doesn't stand for anything. You'll learn things you never thought you'd want to know like what Truman ate for breakfast the morning of his wedding. McCullough does a top notch job fleshing out the story

I read Truman many years ago. I pretty much love anything by McCullough. This article in this morning's WSJ is about how the election is siphoning away audiences from books, tv shows, and movies. I confess, the election had definitely distracted me from my TBR list.

I'm doing a totally informal survey here... Do you read non-fiction? How often? What kinds of non-fiction? What percentage of your reading month belongs to non-fiction? I'm mostly a non-fiction reader so I'm curious about why I see so much fiction on @Litsy . Do you read non-fiction but don't post it here? Thanks! P.S. Photo is of the Enigma machine at Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.

HBD to American historian David McCullough! His rich, relaxing voice on American Experience and The Civil War introduced and nurtured my early love of American history. I love his thesis that "history is the story of people," and we need more popular historians like him.