Two Americans: Truman, Eisenhower, and a Dangerous World - Rilegato

Miller, William Lee

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0307595641 ISBN 13: 9780307595645

Casa editrice: Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2012

Riassunto

Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower, consecutive presidents of the United States, were midwesterners alike in many ways—except that they also sharply differed. Born within six years of each other (Truman in 1884, Eisenhower in 1890), they came from small towns in the Missouri–Mississippi River Valley—in the midst of cows and wheat, pigs and corn, and grain elevators. Both were grandsons of farmers and sons of forceful mothers, and of fathers who knew failure; both were lower middle class, received public school educations, and were brought up in low-church Protestant denominations.
William Lee Miller interweaves Truman’s and Eisenhower’s life stories, which then also becomes the story of their nation as it rose to great power. They had contrasting experiences in the Great War—Truman, the haberdasher to be, led men in battle; Eisenhower, the supreme commander to be did not. Between the wars, Truman was the quintessential politician, and Eisenhower the thoroughgoing anti-politician. Truman knew both the successes and woes of the public life, while Eisenhower was sequestered in the peacetime army. Then in the wartime 1940s, these two men were abruptly lifted above dozens of others to become leaders of the great national efforts.
Miller describes the hostile maneuvering and bickering at the moment in 1952–1953 when power was to be handed from one to the other and somebody had to decide which hat to wear and who greeted whom. As president, each coped with McCarthyism, the tormenting problems of race, and the great issues of the emerging Cold War. They brought the United States into a new pattern of world responsibility while being the first Americans to hold in their hands the awesome power of weapons capable of destroying civilization.
Reading their story is a reminder of the modern American story, of ordinary men dealing with extraordinary power.

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Recensione

“Absorbing . . . a historical double-decker. . . . Miller develops [Truman and Eisenhower’s] often uncomfortable, but unavoidable relationship with rich context and resonance.”
—The Star-Ledger 

“Deft. . . . Insightful. . . . This is a book for those who enjoy history and cherish its ironies. . . . William Lee Miller is a scholar with a light-handed style as anecdotal as it is academic. He keeps his subjects off pedestals and firmly grounded as he relates the momentous events that confronted them and how each rose in stature to respond, for they were two surprisingly ordinary men. . . . Miller delights in telling stories. . . . Stories told affectionately with insight and sensitivity, messages ringing with relevance for us today.”
—Washington Independent Review of Books

“Intriguing. . . . Miller is keen analyzing both politics and policy; he frequently turns a deft phrase. . . . Two Americans admirably succeeds in conveying [Truman and Eisenhower’s] probity and patriotism.”
—Cleveland.com

“An enthralling book.”
—History Book Club

“A rewarding study. . . . Miller aptly and in clear prose describes the rise of both men and outlines their policies as president."
—Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains

“Miller offers lively, well-presented parallel biographies. . . . The author is primarily interested in comparing the experiences of these two men as they rose through the ranks of their chosen professions, and their approaches to government as exemplified by several specific issues. . . . Entertaining reading for presidential-history buffs.”
—Kirkus Reviews
From the Trade Paperback edition.

L'autore

WILLIAM LEE MILLER, Scholar in Ethics and Institutions at the Miller Center at the University of Virginia, has taught at Yale, Smith College, and Indiana University. His previous books include Arguing About Slavery, Lincoln's Virtues, and President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Alfred a Knopf Inc
• Data di pubblicazione: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0307595641
• ISBN 13: 9780307595645
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 404