Letters Home by Harry Truman (Volume 1) (Give ‘em Hell Harry) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0826214746 ISBN 13: 9780826214744

Publisher: University of Missouri, 2003

Synopsis

Letters Home by Harry Truman is a fascinating collection of colorful letters and “diary notes” by Truman, all compiled and edited by Monte Poen. The letters, gathered from many sources, include missives sent by Truman to his daughter, his mother and sister, his cousins, and of course his wife, Bess. This potpourri of information provides an intimate and revealing portrait of a man who went from being a farmer in dire straits—trying to make enough money to marry the woman he loved—to becoming the leader of the most powerful country in the free world.

About this title

About the Author:

About the EditorMonte M. Poen is Regents' Professor of American History Emeritus at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. He is the author or editor of several books, including Harry S. Truman versus the Medical Lobby and Strictly Personal and Confidential: The Letters Harry Truman Never Mailed, both available from the University of Missouri Press.

Review:

"Truman's letters are those of a man who deeply loved his family. He worries about his wife's health, meanwhile reassuring her that he is taking care of his own health. He encloses in his letters an occasional dollar bill for Margaret when she gets an A on a grammar school test, and apologizes when he can't get back to Missouri oftener to visit the other relatives. Occasionally, Truman's frustrations with his job as president boil over and his prose gets frank and salty. . . . These letter give us an engaging picture of an ordinary man growing into a job of paramount importance."—Grand Rapids Press

"More so than the previous volumes of letters, this volume, primarily because it contains a large number of letters to Margaret, reveals a doting and concerned father continually interested in her doings and anxious about her well-being from infancy onward. In all, these letters, carefully edited by Monte Poen, make for pleasant reading."—Presidential Studies Quarterly

"Letters Home is a useful firsthand account of Truman's rise to greatness, partial but vivid from the pen of the author himself."—Chicago Sun-Times

"Letters Home by Harry Truman contains highly personal correspondence never before published and thought to be long lost. . . . This is a new, fuller look at Truman than other volumes of letters have provided, and he shines through as a human being above and beyond his power and prestige."—Charleston Evening Post

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Missouri
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0826214746
• ISBN 13: 9780826214744
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 328
• Editor: Poen Monte M.