New Chapbook Translates Truman's Ancient Playbook Into Practical Lessons for Modern Leaders
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While historians have long noted that Harry Truman read Plutarch's Lives four times through, nobody has explained how a farmer-turned-haberdasher actually used ancient Greek and Roman biographies to make decisions as president. Until now.

BELFAIR, Wash. - Washingtoner -- The Lives Beside Us: What Truman Learned from Plutarch (And What We Can Learn from Both), a new chapbook by documentary editor Marky Yakima, bridges that gap. The 33-page book extracts ten practical lessons from Plutarch's 2,000-year-old text and Truman's application of them, making ancient wisdom accessible to anyone facing consequential decisions—whether they're running a company, raising children, or trying to do work that matters.

"In the cutting room, you learn that character reveals itself in small moments," says Yakima. "That's exactly what Plutarch was studying in the first century. And it's what Truman was learning when he read those biographies as a young man in Missouri."

The chapbook takes a different approach than academic translations of Plutarch. Where scholars focus on historical context, Yakima focuses on application. Each lesson pairs one of Plutarch's insights with Truman's real-world use of it, then shows how contemporary readers can apply the same principles.

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The lessons include:
  • Read lives, not just books (biography as preparation for leadership)
  • Duty doesn't wait for readiness (acting before you feel adequate)
  • Small virtues in daily life matter more than grand gestures
  • Plain speech is more powerful than eloquence
  • When you're wrong, admit it fast

"Truman never went to college," Yakima notes. "He sold men's shirts. But he studied Plutarch the way other people study business school case studies. When he had to decide whether to drop the atomic bomb or fire Douglas MacArthur, he wasn't improvising—he was drawing on patterns he'd seen in ancient leaders who'd faced impossible choices."

The chapbook arrives at a time when readers are hungry for wisdom that works. Ryan Holiday's translations of Stoic philosophy have sold millions of copies. Robert Greene's books on power and strategy remain bestsellers decades after publication. But Plutarch—the most-read book in 18th century America after the Bible—has largely been left to academics.

"This isn't a history book," Yakima says. "It's a manual. Plutarch believed you could train your judgment by studying how character operated under pressure in other lives. Truman proved he was right. The question is whether we're willing to do the same work."

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Yakima brings a documentary editor's eye to the material. His approach cuts through academic language to find the narrative through-line, the moments that reveal who someone really is. The result reads less like scholarship and more like sitting down with someone who's thought hard about how humans make decisions when it matters.

The Lives Beside Us is available now as a digital chapbook at https://markyakima.gumroad.com/l/the-lives-beside-us for $10.

About Marky Yakima

Marky Yakima is a documentary editor who spends his days in cutting rooms asking the same questions historians ask: What reveals character? Where's the real story? What actually matters? He reads biography like instruction manuals—studying decisions, seeing patterns, understanding what works when stakes are real. He lives in the Pacific Northwest, where he collects vinyl and thinks too much about dead presidents.

Contact: markyyakima@gmail.com Available for interviews and podcast appearances

Review Copies: Digital review copies available upon request

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Source: Marky Yakima Publishing
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