Published January 2020
5.5 x 8.5 inches; 148 pages; 77 B&W images
Memoir/Literary nonfiction
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-7342601-0-6
Price: $15.95
Available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-7342601-1-3
Price: $9.99
Available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble
David Wallace spent his childhood in the Truman/Wallace home in Independence, Missouri, living with his family, his grandmother, and his Aunt Bess, Uncle Harry, and cousin Margaret, with more aunts and uncles just next door. Their shared living arrangement created a self-contained extended family whose interconnectedness continued even after Uncle Harry, then Senator Truman, became President Truman—the most powerful man in the world—and their shared home became the Summer White House.
As the only remaining member of this self-contained household, Wallace looks back on those years to recount anecdotes and intimate details of a unique American heritage. From the scandal of his granddaddy’s suicide that led to the unusual living arrangement to the family stories passed down on weekend drives, I Called Him Uncle Harry shares Wallace’s memories of his famous family and their lives together.
After graduating from the University of New Mexico, David Wallace worked in public relations for many years. He was a partner in the Gifford-Wallace Inc. agency in New York City and head of the David Wallace and Co. agency in Hollywood and Santa Fe, New Mexico. In the 1980s, he was West Coast representative for nationally syndicated gossip columnist Liz Smith and national correspondent for People magazine. He has written numerous feature articles for the Los Angeles Times, the Denver Post, Colorado Homes & Lifestyles, and the Malibu Times.
Wallace is author of Capital of the World: A Portrait of New York City in the 1920s (2012), Lost Hollywood (2001), Hollywoodland (2002), Dream Palaces of Hollywood’s Golden Age (2006), Exiles in Hollywood (2006), and A City Comes Out: How Celebrities Made Palm Springs a Gay and Lesbian Paradise (2008), and was a contributor to Malibu: A Century of Living by the Sea (2004).
Wallace lives in Palm Springs, California, where he teaches creative writing and works as a writer and co-writer.
“Lost Hollywood is not lost, after all, thanks to David Wallace’s new book.”
—Janet Leigh
“Wallace’s concept is inspired.”
—The New York Times
“… one of the liveliest books you’ll ever read. … I couldn’t put it down.”
—Ann Miller
“Wallace creates poignant portraits of a lost world.”
—Premiere magazine
“David Wallace is an apt historian, and his work is valuable and riveting.”
—Liz Smith, syndicated columnist
(Barricade Books, 2008)
“…compelling and appealing…. [an] engaging recounting of the era as personified by some of its most colorful characters.”
—Sam Roberts, The New York Times
“David Wallace anoints 1920s New York the Capital of the World.”
—Vanity Fair
David Wallace provides a rare glimpse into the most private world when Harry and Bess Truman lived with the Wallace family in their home at 219 North Delaware Street during the 1930s and 1940s. He recreates this world by sharing special memories and never-before-seen family photos, recalling his early life with the Wallace family and his beloved Aunt B and Uncle Harry.
—Jon Taylor, author of Harry Truman’s Independence: The Center of the World (2013) and Harry Truman’s Grandview Farm (2011)
