Mr. Truman's War:: The Final Victories of World War II and the Birth of the Postwar World (Modern War Studies) [Hardcover]

J. Robert Moskin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 11, 1996 | Series: Modern War Studies

In his first three months in office President Harry Truman was forced to face the greatest challenges ever to confront a world leader--including the decision to drop the A-bomb, the beginning of the Cold War, and more. Now, the former foreign editor for Look magazine presents, for the first time, the dramatic story of Truman's first five months as president.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When Franklin D. Roosevelt died, the task of bringing about a swift end to World War II fell to Harry Truman. In Mr. Truman's War, J. Robert Moskin sets out to "pull together the varied, conflicting strands that made (the last five months of World War II) one of the crucial and exciting moments in the world's history." Moskin, who is also the author of The U.S. Marine Corps Story, points out that while much of the architecture of the postwar world had already been decided before Roosevelt's death, Truman was faced with a host of difficult decisions, including when and how to deploy the atomic bomb. Mr. Truman's War is a detailed and readable recounting of the closing chapter of World War II.

From Publishers Weekly

With the haberdasher turned head of state as his focus, Moskin (The U.S. Marine Corps Story) offers a theme-driven, journalistic account of the period between FDR's death and Japan's unconditional surrender?five months in 1945 when "the world changed forever." Moskin regards WWII, rather than the Civil War, as the defining event in U.S. history, and perceives the transition from war to peace as the decisive stage in that event. The destruction of the Axis, the beginnings of the Cold War and the nuclear age, the end of colonialism?all occurred at that time, with Truman, according to the author, personally responsible for the crucial decisions that shaped final victory and structured the postwar world. Moskin's insistence on the critical nature of these five months, and on the centrality of Truman's role, seems overstated. Many historians contend that the outlines of the postwar system were well established by 1945. Truman himself entertained few illusions of being a world-historical figure and sought consensus whenever possible on major issues, such as the sharing of nuclear information. Moskin's dependence, judging from his notes, on published sources and memoirs apparently often leads him to take ex post facto reconstructions at face value, and to portray such events as the Potsdam Conference and the decision to drop the bomb as simpler than they were. Even so, he provides entertaining history here, as well as an impressive, detailed introduction to a complex period. Photographs. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 411 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1St Edition edition (June 11, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067940936X
• ISBN-13: 978-0679409366
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,047,918 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly researched, chronological read, February 27, 2004

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ken2020 (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mr. Truman's War:: The Final Victories of World War II and the Birth of the Postwar World (Modern War Studies) (Hardcover)

I found this book compelling and insightful. It is loaded with more than just the facts. It includes a very basic analysis from an historians perspective on the people and events, both big and small, which shaped the end of the war and the post-war world. President Truman was keenly aware of the many influences on such monumental events as the Potsdam Conference, the diplomacy required to confront the problems of a devastated Europe, the competing views among his cabinet members, the French priority for dominating Indochina, and the multi-faceted dilemma posed by new discoveries in atomic power. Moskin is able to deftly capture the complexities of so many intersecting landmarks of history and tell the story in a way that brings the reader along through the uncertainties of the end of WWII.