The Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America's Most Famous Residence
By 1949, according to Klara, the White House was in an advanced state of decrepitude. Wooden beams were rotting, floors were dangerously unstable, some timbers had scorch marks from the British burning during the War of 1812, and the foundation was sinking at an accelerated rate. So a three-year renovation project was launched, which basically gutted the interior while keeping the façade intact. In this gossipy, sometimes amusing, sometimes irritating account, Klara describes how the interior arrived at its present form. Characters, famous and relatively obscure, flit in and out of the narrative, creating frequently humorous situations. Klara writes with a strong sense of the ironic, and he is careful to point out that more substantive world events were going on under Truman’s watch. This is a light, generally enjoyable look at a historical sideshow. --Jay Freeman