Book Reviews : Labor and Politics in Peru: The System of Political Bargaining. By JAMES L. PAYNE. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965. Pp. x, 292. $6.75.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591296601900438
• Date: 01 December 1966
• Author: Ward M. Morton
• Published date: 01 December 1966
• Subject Matter: Articles

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But the forty-five pages of the chapter contain only passing references to Truman.
Phillips is the newsman caught up in the pleasure of reporting his story; he lacks
the discipline of the best scholarship which dictates that that which does not con-
tribute to the purpose of the book must be discarded.
Yet, if The Truman Presidency is not profound character analysis nor the
best of historical scholarship, it remains an excellent book. In a sense, the work’s
defects are its virtues. It is episodic. The chapters stand by themselves, complete
in themselves, not a comprehensive, balanced history, but a series of yams un-
abashedly revealing the judgments and values of the author. For those of us who
lived the years, there is the fascination of recall, reinforced by sixteen pages of
excellent photographs inserted at mid-volume. For those for whom the Truman
era can only be a period in history, the volume provides an unsurpassed oppor-
tunity to experience some of the flavor and tone of the times. Even the scholar who
relishes a diet of weightier tomes will benefit from a reading of the volume because
it is a gold mine of anecdotes for livening lectures. Moreover, a salutary caution in
the use of documentary sources may be acquired from Phillips’ revelations of the
astonishing scope of disagreements among the participants about precisely what
happened on a given occasion just a few years ago. The degree of disagreement
about the facts in the dismissal of Henry Wallace from the Truman cabinet is
almost unbelievable.
In sum, The Truman Presidency is not a major contribution to the literature
on the American Presidency, but it is interesting, informative, and fun to read.
NED V. JOY
San Diego State College
Labor and Politics in Peru: The System of Political Bargaining. By JAMES L.
PAYNE. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965. Pp. x, 292. $6.75.)
American scholars, fascinated in recent years by the task of describing and
analyzing actual political behavior, have...