Born within six years of each other, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower came from small Midwestern towns, and both were lower middle class Protestants who received public school educations. After that, their paths diverged and converged again in surprising ways, and here Lee Miller interweaves their life stories, which then also becomes the story of their nation as it rose to great power. The haberdasher Truman led troops in battle—something Eisenhower never did—and became the consummate politician, a role that Ike knowingly avoided. Chronicling how the two men's friendship came to an end, Miller also notes the parallels between their consecutive presidencies.