Excellent book written with feeling about a great and underrated President. One of the few that said what he meant and meant what he said. The book was also refreshingly written in plain English. That's rare for a political science and/or history book. ( )

A big seller in its day, the 1970's. The Truman revealed here is of course the man the former president wishes he had been, and overall the book suffers from lack of perspective on the real historical meaning of HST. But it is a very readable set of anecdotes, and some of the man's depths are revealed in them. I'm not calling it a great biography, but it is an excellent extended interview, and a pretty good starting place for future study by the serious student. ( )

Miller freely admits that he didn't ask some questions, and that Harry may well have mis-remembered some incidents ("a privilege of old men"). But it's rare that we get an interview with someone who was a candid as Harry about his life and career, about what he did and why he did it. And although Harry was as guilty of anyone at putting the best face on his actions, he doesn't deny them, or place the blame on unsupervised subordinates. President Truman comes across as someone who fully understood that the office of President was important, but kept a sense of humility about his service. ( )

My favourite book. I read it once a year - and I am an Australian.If I had a fantasy dinner party Harry Truman would be first on my list ( apart from my husband!!) ( )

1268. Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman, by Merle Miller (28 Mar 1974) This book had its moments, especially in its earlier parts. But it is rambling, disorganized, and showed Harry as awfully cantankerous and opinionated. David McCullough's biography of Truman is a far superior effort. ( )

This book is a compilation of transcriptions of a series of interviews Miller did with Truman, and with others who knew and/or worked with Truman. The book covers almost Truman's entire life. The interviews were done (and filmed) for a TV documentary on Truman's life that was never completed.

The book is extremely interesting, in that I learned a lot about Truman, and about the era he lived in. For one thing, I had never realized Truman was such a populist and, in many ways, the last of the "self-made men" to become president.

It is refreshing that Truman is unequivocating here about his antipathies, stating quite forcefully his loathing for Eisenhower, Douglas McArthur and Nixon, for example.

The only real drawback to the book is that Miller frequently, and quite admittedly, pulls his punches in his questions, refraining from posing questions that he worries will offend or anger Truman. His reasoning is more or less understandable: he was always afraid Truman might withdraw from the project if irritated too much. Still, it leaves a reader wanting some tough questions asked relatively frequently.

However, overall, this book serves as a terrific history lesson, covering the period of the Depression through the early 60s, and a great introduction to Harry Truman. It has made me anxious to read the McCullough biography.

Comprised of interviews in chronological order, Miller talks to Truman (as former President) as well as Mary Jane Truman (Truman's sister), fellow Battery D veteran Albert Ridge, even a childhood neighbor of Truman's, Henry Chiles. The interviews (as opposed to Miller's interpretation) allow for personalities to emerge. Miller spends more time delving into Truman's political and military careers instead of the more personal subjects such as Truman's childhood and relationships. There is a definite rapport between Miller and Truman and Miller is careful to avoid disrespect on several occasions.
While the interviews are very candid (I thoroughly enjoyed "hearing" Truman swear) I thought some sections were drawn out and much longer than they needed to be. I also found myself skipping some of the footnotes because they didn't always relate to the subject. Another small criticism I had is while reading it was sometimes difficult to know the difference between Truman answering a question and Miller telling his reader something. While he used a different font for the questions posed to the respondent he didn't for generalized comments to the reader. ( )

Frank, corny, principled, tough--excellent self-portrait though stretched out some ( )