The author offers an account of what he believes is a distinctly American life, that of Harry S. Truman. He traces Truman's rise from marginal farmer in rural Missouri to shaper of the post-war world. Harry Truman, Hamby writes, was a flawed man - insecure, often petty and vindictive - yet one of the great presidents of the 20th century. But Americans cherish him less for what he did than for who he was: an ordinary person who worked his way up the political ladder to the summit of power.