Harry had learned to read when he was four years old. His mother and grandmother Young taught him how to read the Bible. He had already read the whole Bible cover to cover three or four times before he was fourteen. See also: "Truman’s remarkable reading list."

Books and knowledge were highly valued in the Truman family. Mama often sat up and read to the Truman children the poetry of Tennyson, Shakespeare, or Robert Burns, although Truman wrote,

"Sometimes we had a terrible time trying to understand what Bobby (Robert Burns) was talking about, but it made mighty musical reading."

See also: "Me and Libraries"

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Cincinnatus

On Harry's tenth birthday, Mama had given him what became his favorite set of books, The Lives of Great Men and Famous Women. This set featured biographies about famous Greek and Roman heroes. He liked the stories of Cincinnatus, Cyrus the Great, and Hannibal. Harry was fascinated by their courage and leadership.

Cyrus

It was Cyrus who freed about 50,000 Jews from captivity in Babylon in 538BCE, allowing them to return to their native Jerusalem.

He was well loved by his followers, who respected his honest ways and fairness. They erected a monument for his tomb which still stands today.

Harry particularly liked the book by Theodore Ayrault Dodge, an author who served in the Civil War. Published in 1891, it is still one of the best books about Hannibal. Hannibal is often considered the finest general the world has ever known. Setting out from Carthaginian-dominated Spain with a small army of select troops, he fought his way over the Pyrenees and crossed the Alps with elephants and a full baggage train. Descending into Italy, he destroyed the main Roman army at Lake Trasimeno, and came close to conquering Rome itself.

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