Tumultuous Years: The Presidency of Harry S. Truman, 1949-53

This completes a superb two-volume study of the Truman presidency. The focus of the book, as was Truman's at the time, is overwhelmingly on foreign affairs. Donovan reaches the sound conclusion that "the deepest, most lasting troubles that had beset Truman were those in the Far East . . . . If there were a better course the United States could have followed in the face of the historic upheaval in Asia, the Truman administration never found it."