American Experience

Further Reading

Web Sites | Books

Truman Presidential Museum & Library
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/
Visit the Web site of the Truman library, and see a collection of exhibits, Truman trivia, and links to information about the library's holdings and related Web sites.

National Atomic Museum
http://www.atomicmuseum.com/tour/index.cfm
Explore virtual exhibits on the development of the atomic bomb and the decision to drop it.

American Experience: Race for the Superbomb
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/index.html
At the dawn of the Cold War, the U.S. and the Soviet Union raced to build the world's most powerful bomb. Access maps, a timeline, a virtual tour of a secret government bunker, film footage of nuclear blasts, and comparisons of U.S. and Soviet nuclear stockpiles and tests. Then take a 1953 quiz to see how "panic-proof" you are.

Cold War Hot Links
http://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/dprice/cold.war.htm
A collection of interesting primary and secondary sources regarding the Cold War.

Hiroshima: Was It Necessary?
http://www.doug-long.com/
A resource about this controversial issue, with links to documents such as Truman's diaries, to other sites related to the question, and to nuclear activity in general.

The Literature and Culture of the 1950s
http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/home.html
Produced by University of Pennsylvania English professor Al Filreis, this site is a searchable, annotated list of links to literary and cultural materials produced during -- or related to -- the American 1950s.

World War I: Trenches on the Web
http://www.worldwar1.com
Learn about the war Harry Truman fought in as a young man through photographs, interviews, articles, maps, timelines, and more.

Web Sites | Books

Atomic Bomb:

Allen, Thomas B. Code Name Downfall: The Secret Plan to Invade Japan and Why Truman Dropped the Bomb. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.

Rhodes, Richard. The Making of the Atomic Bomb. Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 1986.

Thomas, Gordon and Max Morgan Witts. Enola Gay. New York: Stein and Day,1977.

General Biography:

Giglio, James N. Truman in Cartoon and Caricature. Iowa State University Press, 1984.

Hamby, Alonzo L. Beyond the New Deal: Harry S Truman and American Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1973.

----. Man of the People: A Life of Harry S Truman.. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Ferrell, Robert H. Harry S Truman and the Modern American Presidency. Boston: Little Brown, 1983.

----. Truman: a Centenary Remembrance. London: Thames and Hudson, 1984.

----. Choosing Truman: The Democratic Convention of 1944. The University of Missouri, 1994.

Lee, Alton R. Harry S Truman: Where Did the Buck Stop?. New York: P. Lang, 1991.

McCullough, David G. Truman. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.

Miller, Merle. Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S Truman. New York: Berkeley, 1974.

Pemberton, William E. Harry S Truman: Fair Dealer and Cold Warrior. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1989.

Truman, Harry S. Memoirs by Harry S Truman. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1955.

Truman, Harry S. Dear Bess: The Letters From Harry to Bess Truman, 1910-1959. Edited by Robert Ferrell. New York: Norton, 1983.

Truman Harry S. Strictly Personal and Confidential: The Letters Harry Truman Never Mailed. Edited by Monte M. Poen, Boston: Little Brown, 1982.

Truman, Margaret. Harry S Truman. New York: Morrow, 1973.

Foreign Policy:

Deibel, Terry L. Containing the Soviet Union: A Critique of U.S. Policy. John Lewis Gaddis, ed. Washington: Pergamon-Brassey's, 1987.

Etzold, Thomas, H., and John Lewis Gaddis, eds. Containment: Documents on American Policy and Strategy, 1945-1950. New York: Columbia University Press, 1978.

Gaddis, John Lewis. The United States and the End of the Cold War: Implications, Reconsiderations, Provocations. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

----. The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941-1947. New York: Columbia University Press, 1972.

----. The Long Peace: Inquiries into the History of the Cold War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.

----. Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of Postwar American National Security Policy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.

LaFeber, Walter. America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-1992. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993.

May, Ernest R. American Cold War Strategy: Interpreting NSC 68. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1993.

McCormick, Thomas J. America's Half-Century: United States Foreign Policy in the Cold War and After. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1995.

Messer, Robert L. The End of an Alliance: James F. Byrnes, Roosevelt, Truman and the Origins of the Cold War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Pollard, Robert A. Economic Security and the Origins of the Cold War, 1945-1950. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985.

Walker, Martin. The Cold War and the Making of the Modern World. Fourth Estate, 1993.

Korean War:

Cumings, Bruce. The Origins of the Korean War. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1990.

Donovan, Robert, J. Nemesis: Truman and Johnson in the Coils of War in Asia. New York: St. Martin's/Marek, 1984.

Stueck, William Whitney. The Road to Confrontation: American Policy Toward Korea, 1947-1950. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1981.

Truman Administration & Domestic Policy:

Bernstein, Barton J. The Truman Administration: A Documentary History. Edited by Barton J. Bernstein and Allan J. Matusow. New York: Harper & Row, 1966.

----. Politics and Policies of the Truman Administration, Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1970.

Donovan, Robert J. Conflict and Crisis: The Presidency of Harry S Truman, 1945-1948. New York: Norton, 1977.

----. Tumultuous Years: The Presidency of Harry S Truman, 1949-1953. New York: Norton, 1982.

Dunar, Andrew J. The Truman Scandals and the Politics of Morality. Columbia, Missouri: The University of Missouri Press, 1984.

Hersey, John Richard. Aspects of the Presidency. New Haven: Ticknor & Fields, 1980.

Lacey, Michael. Truman and the 80th Congress. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Marcus, Maeva. Truman and the Steel Seizure Case: The Limits of Presidential Power. New York: Columbia University Press,1977.

McCoy, Donald R. The Presidency of Harry S. Truman. University Press of Kansas, 1984.

Pemberton, William E. Bureaucratic Politics: Executive Reorganization During the Truman Administration. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1979.

McCarthyism:

Gallon, Steven M., Diane B. Kung. America During the Cold War. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993.

Schrecker, Ellen. The Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1994.

Thompson, Francis H. The Frustration of Politics: Truman, Congress, and the Loyalty Issue, 1945-1953. Rutherford, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1979.

Other:

Brinkley, Alan. The End of Reform: New Deal Liberalism in Recession and War. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995.

Lichtenstein, Nelson, and Howell John Harris, eds. Industrial Democracy in America: The Ambiguous Promise. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Smith, Page. A People's History of the Post-Reconstruction Era, vol VI: The Rise of Industrial America. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984.

For Younger Readers:

Allen, Peter. Origins of World War II. New York: Bookwright Press, 1992.
An overview of the events and people involved in the beginnings of World War II, including many illustrations, maps and photographs, a timeline, and biographical sketches of the major figures of the time.

Bernstein, Barton J. and Allen J. Matusow, eds. The Truman Administration: A Documentary History. New York: Harper & Row, 1966.
An extensive collection of primary source materials, including legislation, speeches, memos, and more.

Blum, John Morton. V Was for Victory. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976.
An examination of the culture and politics on the homefront during World War II.

Cohen, Daniel. Joseph McCarthy: The Misuse of Political Power. Brookfield, CT: The Millbrook Press, 1996.
Written for young adults, this book presents an analysis of McCarthy, HUAC, and the effects of "McCarthyism" on American life in the 1950s.

Coontz, Stephanie. The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap. New York: Basic Books, 1992.
This book examines the changes American women experienced in the 1940s and 1950s.

Dornfield, Margaret. The Turning Tide, 1948-1956: From the Desegregation of the Armed Forces to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. New York: Chelsea House, 1995.
Part of the "Milestones in Black American History" series written for young adults, this volume examines the issues, events, and people who contributed to the struggle for equality for African Americans.

Ferrell, Robert H., ed. Dear Bess: The Letters from Harry to Bess Truman, 1910-1959. New York: W.W. Norton, 1983.
A collection of the private letters Truman wrote to his wife Bess, from the time of his World War I service through his presidency.

Ferrell, Robert H., ed. Harry S. Truman and the Bomb: A Documentary History. Worland, WY: High Plains Publishing Company, 1996.
This is a compilation of letters, diary entries, interviews, memos, etc. compiled by archivists at the Harry S. Truman Library in Missouri.

Ferrell, Robert H. Harry S. Truman and the Modern American Presidency. Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1983.
An analytical biography of Truman's contributions to the presidency through his skills as an administrator and his handling of foreign policy. The book includes a chapter on how Truman's standing has changed since he left the presidency, as well as photographs and an annotated bibliography.

Finkelstein, Norman H. The Emperor General. Minneapolis: Dillon Press, Inc., 1989.
A colorful, easy-to-read biography of Douglas MacArthur, one of America's most powerful and most controversial generals. The book includes many photos, a chronology of MacArthur's life, and a bibliography.

Gallen, David, ed. The Quotable Truman. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc.
Arranged by topic, these are excerpts from a series of interviews recorded in 1960 and 1961, in which Truman discussed the history of the U.S. government, its Constitution, and the presidency.

Hartmann, Susan. The Home Front and Beyond: American Women in the 1940s. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1982.
Part of the "American Women in the 20th Century" series, this examines the role of women after the war in the workplace, in education, in politics, and at home.

LaFeber, Walter. America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-1980, 7th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993.
Written by one of the historians who contributed to the "Truman" program, this is an in-depth analysis of the troubled relations between the two superpowers from the end of World War II to the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

Mallon, Thomas. Dewey Defeats Truman. New York: Pantheon Books, 1997.
Set in Thomas Dewey's home town of Owosso, Michigan, this novel tells the tale of a love triangle between a woman, a labor organizer, and a wealthy lawyer set against the backdrop of the 1948 presidential campaign.

May, Elaine Tyler. Pushing the Limits: American Women 1940-1961. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Written for young adults, this is part of "The Young Oxford History of Women in the United States" and examines the role of women during World War II and the postwar years. Iincludes photos and a bibliography.

Robbins, Jhan. Bess & Harry: An American Love Story. New York: Putnam, 1980.
An intimate portrait of the relationship between Truman and his wife Bess, including excerpts from letters, many photographs, and a bibliography.

Truman, Margaret. Bess W. Truman. New York: Macmillan, 1986.
Written by her daughter, this is a personal and highly readable account of the life of the first lady, based on Margaret's own memories as well as thousands of letters.

Walton, Richard J. Henry Wallace, Harry Truman, and the Cold War. New York: Viking, 1976.
An in-depth study of the 1948 presidential campaign and the debate between Wallace and Truman over the origins and intentions of the foreign policy of the time that led to the Cold War. Includes excerpts from speeches and other primary sources.

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