2024 the best us president of all time review

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A hypnotically fast-paced, masterful reporting of Harry Truman’s first 120 days as president, when he took on Germany, Japan, Stalin, and a secret weapon of unimaginable power—marking the most dramatic rise to greatness in American history.

Chosen as FDR’s fourth-term vice president for his well-praised work ethic, good judgment, and lack of enemies, Harry S. Truman was the prototypical ordinary man. That is, until he was shockingly thrust in over his head after FDR’s sudden death.

The first four months of Truman’s administration saw the founding of the United Nations, the fall of Berlin, victory at Okinawa, firebombings in Tokyo, the first atomic explosion, the Nazi surrender, the liberation of concentration camps, the mass starvation in Europe, the Potsdam Conference, the controversial decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the surrender of imperial Japan, and finally, the end of World War II and the rise of the Cold War. No other president had ever faced so much in such a short period of time.

The Accidental President escorts readers into the situation room with Truman during a tumultuous, history-making 120 days, when the stakes were high and the challenges even higher.

“[A] well-judged and hugely readable book . . . few are as entertaining.” —Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books; Reprint edition (October 2, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1328505685
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1328505682
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 1.12 x 8 inches
Reviewer: Richard B. Schwartz
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Lovely, Lovely Book
Review: This is a lovely, lovely book, beautifully researched, beautifully written and filled with superb details. Capitalizing on the strengths of great fiction—powerful, unforgettable characters, a riveting story line, fully-realized settings and eternal, compelling themes—this is popular narrative history at its absolute best.The subject is President Truman's very consequential first four months in office. While not a full-fledged biography of HST there are strong biographical elements and a great stress of 'character'—not just the man's personal integrity and tenacity but his full, rounded character. His entire story is a fascinating one, as David McCullough has made clear, but here we see him under extreme pressure, as if the skies have opened and the weight of the universe has fallen across his shoulders. It is one thing to follow a popular and accomplished president, quite another to both end a great war and seek a peace under the most difficult of circumstances. Add to this the need to negotiate with the likes of Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill and make the decision as to the use of nuclear weapons.Baime makes the point time and again that HST possessed two crucial characteristics: the ability to make hard decisions crisply and expeditiously and the possession of titanic integrity. While the author does not make the point here, I have always remembered HST's refusal to benefit financially from the presidency after he left office, declaring, with finality, that the presidency was not for sale. As we are reminded that HST cheated on his eye test to be able to fight in WWI and that he commanded an artillery battery in the Argonne and suffered no casualties (except for horses) I was reminded why he is now ranked toward the middle of our top ten presidents.Without descending into the sentimental or the hyperbolic the author tells HST's story straightforwardly; the only problem is that that straightforward story forced this reader, at least, to read much of the book with moist eyes.Every American should read this book and see how a modest man who had often struggled in his life ascended one of history's greatest stages and taught us all the nature of real leadership, real courage and real accomplishment.I would have awarded even more stars if it was possible to do so.N.B.: the author's book on the 1948 election is coming on July 7, 2020.

Reviewer: Discerning consumer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: one of the most interesting and insightful books I have ever read
Review: This was a real eye opener of a book. FDR was President back in the day when we just didn't know much or hear much about incapacities of our Presidents (also when we would probably NOT have just ignored them either...maybe). I learned so so so much and appreciated so many things that we did not know. Some parallels to today- what if the US had not dropped atom bombs? How much longer would the war have gone on and how many more millions of casualties on both sides? Truman was masterful and one of the really good "guys". If you have the slightest interest in history, you will be so so so glad you read this book. If you have no interest in history, YOU NEED to read this book.

Reviewer: Brendan
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: a great read.
Review: Well researched and easy to read. A good look into Truman’s whirlwind first few months that defined his presidency and the beginning of the cold war.

Reviewer: Charles F. Gobel
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Actually a Suspenseful Book!
Review: I VERY highly recommend this book. I always just read non-fiction books and and mostly history or biography books. This is a combination of both, and the way it is written ties-in the world-shattering events of that time with also a very insightful look at a man- Truman- who played a gigantic role in shaping our country's history. His road to becoming President of the United States is remarkable to behold, and the author keeps the readers' interest every step of the way. I've read about 60 biography/history books since the pandemic began and this is by far one of the best of them.

Reviewer: Benny
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent perspective on HST
Review: A very readable historical work reviewing a brief remarkable time in American history, showing how heroes are made by their circumstances. A refreshing look at a down-to-earth leader of limited ambition and how he coped after being thrust into leadership of the free world.

Reviewer: Mrs. Carol J. Gagliardi
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: understanding why the world is what it is today
Review: I was born in 1943, so my childhood was consumed with my entry into the world Based upon Normal childhood growth– toys holidays school sports, too young to comprehend World War II. My wife Carol and I are part of couples book club. That’s selected this book that I probably never would’ve read otherwise. In summary, this is the best book. I’ve read as my understanding of the office of the presidency of the United States – war – atomic bomb – real greatness of Harry Truman created a clarity of our current world chaos undermined by the internecine congressional relationship. My recommendation would be an unconditional surrender of Congress to pursue cooperative Democratic principles.My compliments to all involved in presenting this fantastic book – Tom Gagliardi.

Reviewer: Glen
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great Read
Review: So well researched and so well written.

Reviewer: Edimilson Mario
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Alguns jornalistas descrevem o Truman como um líder genocida que usou a bomba atômica para subjulgar um país que já tinha se rendido. É recomendável que leiam este livro para saber mais a respeito deste período; terão a oportunidade de saber mais a respeito do Presidente Acidental.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 1.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The paper and print quality is so bad... Brown paper with such a light print that it's so hard to read. The print is also not at all clear.Regret buying. Returned immediately.These Indian editions are unfortunately made with such poor quality. How do these publishers get away with this?

Reviewer: Alberta Beijing
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The book is incredibly informative and an easy read. If you look at the footnotes and bibliography you will see how much research was done.

Reviewer: Johnoc
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This isn't a biography from cradle to the grave, which,lets be honest -spend too many pages on tedious stuff, this mainly covers a few months when Truman went from not even a household name in his family to the most powerful man on the planet taking momentous decisions almost daily.In his first four months of his presidency he had seen Germany defeated, spent days horse trading with Churchill and Stalin (one of them would have been too much for most politicians) on what Europe would look like post-war and give permission to drop two nuclear bombs that forced Japan to surrender. Throw in the first seeds about the state of Israel being created and Truman's decisions still have huge consequences today.Throw in the fact he never wanted to be President and his wife hated the idea all the while he was in office nakes the title completely accurate of someone who was thrust into office and power and judging by this book did a pretty good job under circumstances probably no world leader had seen before or since.

Reviewer: Marcos Luz
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Interesting because I got this book to read out of the blue for pure curiosity around the motives to drop the atomic bombs over Japan. Maybe it would shed some light on this matter... For my great pleasure, the book has more than that. It covers the end of the FDR era and the beginning of a new one: Harry S Truman as the first President coming from the common people to rule the world and set eternal development for all humankind (UN, NATO). Glad to understand a little bit more about the ’40s political environment, specially USSR (Stalin) and Great Britain (W. Churchill the last official meet before his term was over). I am not American and probably because of that I never had heard the lend-lease doctrine (program), where the Americans taxpayers were called to support (finance) the battle against Hitler and the rebuild of a devastated Europe. Thanks For That. Excellent book, five stars for sure.