Jeffrey Frank doesn’t attempt to emulate David McCullough’s cradle-to-grave biography, published three decades ago. Frank instead glides over Truman’s pre-presidential years to deliver a well-researched, balanced and pithy account that thoughtfully explores the unlikely triumph of one of the nation’s most consequential presidencies. Frank’s prowess as a storyteller brings to life the major episodes of Truman’s tenure while drawing an intimate portrait of his internal struggles as he clashed with foreign and domestic rivals and led a group of heavyweights that came to establish a winning blueprint for the Cold War..

... a book that, in its timing, acts almost as a blueprint for a liberal president to navigate a challenging world, focused through the prism of a man who was nobody’s real first choice for president and yet forged an envious record.

There is much that is persuasive in Mr. Frank’s account, and much that is provocative and debatable. Many of Truman’s flaws are shared, to one degree or another, by all political figures, and Truman’s prejudices were of course very much of his time.

Frank is drawn to the human side of this story: the backroom sniping, the jockeying for position, the personality clashes, and the diplomatic pageantry that produced the postwar world order. Famous statesmen abound, most of them more confident, if not more lovable, than Truman..

A pretty shrewd judge...Frank does not so much puncture the Truman myth as let out just enough air to settle the man back to earth.

... a very conventional book about Truman’s presidency. It is not quite the hagiographic work of David McCullough’s Truman but also does not measure up to Alonzo Hamby’s more discerning Man of the People.

... engaging and insightful.

It’s hardly a picture of visionary leadership, but Frank is often commendably even-handed in that assessment.

In this illuminating chronicle, Frank shows readers how this remarkable midwestern haberdasher surmounted his handicap, leaving his mark on the nation and the world.

Frank crafts an expansive, appreciative review of a consequential, yet once-underestimated president who arguably grew into the job he unexpectedly assumed.

... shrewd.

... absorbing.