William V. Shannon (1927–1988)

436. The Truman Merry-Go-Round, by Robert S. Allen and William V. Shannon (read 18 June 1952) I read this in June of 1952 and commented on it as follows: "Of course it is a very weak book because one can't trust it. It has that about it, just like a Drew Pearson (he had nothing to do with this book) column which requires that all be taken with a consideration of the source. Further, it was written in 1950 and is greatly dated. It has the style of 1932's Washington Merry-Go-Round in an age which has outgrown that style and demands facts, not generalizations. All the people that are called stupid--but this book is obviously written by very stupid guys. Mind you, I agree with the political bias of the authors. It is that they wrote a poor book--hasty, superficial and unbearably loaded with blacks and whites. A tendency to sweeping over all condemnation re Congress was especially notorious. I rejected the portraits of congressmen as totally lacking in the research and attention required.… (mais)