TWO AMERICANS Truman, Eisenhower, and a Dangerous World

The usually reliable Dick Hill falters with an overemphatic reading of this dual biography. The text, which is mostly low-key, is not helped by its sounding like a newsreel. The book is a bit dry, even repetitive, in the opening chapters. But when Professor Miller, whose specialty was the intersection of ethics and politics, hits his stride with the two presidencies, the conflict of issues and ideas provides all the excitement a history buff could want. Hill's stilted phrasing becomes a distraction. When Miller is discussing the attitudes and actions of the two presidents on, for example, civil rights, the narrator would serve the text best with a straightforward presentation. The material is fascinating enough to stand on its own. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2012]