by Matthew Algeo, 2011, Chicago Review Press

This book was our February book club’s selection.  It was fun reading about Harry Truman and his wife, Bess, in their new roles as ex-president and ex-first lady when they took a road trip to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York in 1953.  This was probably the last time that an ex-president attempted to assume the role of a private, ordinary citizen after serving.  Ex-presidents since Harry have all attempted, in one way or another, to capitalize on their special status.

Harry Truman was also the last President to leave office without any kind of a pension.  He had to pay his own office expense and scrape by without any substantial source of income.  He was finally granted a small pension quite a few years after he left office.

The author tried to trace the trip that Harry and Bess took by traveling the same highways and attempting to eat at the same restaurants and to stay at the same hotels.  He goes into great detail describing the changes that have occurred in the various places since 1953.

The book might have been a much better book if the author had been able to derive any significant meaning from his observations, perhaps by tying them to some larger historical or social trends.  Instead, he writes an inordinate amount about the history of the individuals and buildings Harry and Bess encountered on their trip.  The result is that the book is full of trivial facts that seem to have no particular bearing on the story.  The book was about 225 pages but the number of pages that held pertinent information was closer to 125.  The extra 100 pages were a waste of time.