The #1 New York Times bestseller and New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2017“Eminently readable but thick with import . . . Grant hits like a Mack truck of knowledge.” —Ta-Nehisi Coates, The AtlanticPulitzer Prize winner Ron Chernow returns with a sweeping and dramatic portrait of one of our most compelling generals and presidents, Ulysses S. Grant. Ulysses S. Grant’s life has … compelling generals and presidents, Ulysses S. Grant.
Ulysses S. Grant’s life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and an inept businessman, or as the triumphant but brutal Union general of the Civil War. But these stereotypes don’t come close to capturing him, as Chernow shows in his masterful biography, the first to provide a complete understanding of the general and president whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency.
Before the Civil War, Grant was flailing. His business ventures had ended dismally, and despite distinguished service in the Mexican War he ended up resigning from the army in disgrace amid recurring accusations of drunkenness. But in war, Grant began to realize his remarkable potential, soaring through the ranks of the Union army, prevailing at the battle of Shiloh and in the Vicksburg campaign, and ultimately defeating the legendary Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Along the way, Grant endeared himself to President Lincoln and became his most trusted general and the strategic genius of the war effort. Grant’s military fame translated into a two-term presidency, but one plagued by corruption scandals involving his closest staff members.
More important, he sought freedom and justice for black Americans, working to crush the Ku Klux Klan and earning the admiration of Frederick Douglass, who called him “the vigilant, firm, impartial, and wise protector of my race.” After his presidency, he was again brought low by a dashing young swindler on Wall Street, only to resuscitate his image by working with Mark Twain to publish his memoirs, which are recognized as a masterpiece of the genre.
With lucidity, breadth, and meticulousness, Chernow finds the threads that bind these disparate stories together, shedding new light on the man whom Walt Whitman described as “nothing heroic… and yet the greatest hero.” Chernow’s probing portrait of Grant’s lifelong struggle with alcoholism transforms our understanding of the man at the deepest level. This is America’s greatest biographer, bringing movingly to life one of our finest but most underappreciated presidents. The definitive biography, Grant is a grand synthesis of painstaking research and literary brilliance that makes sense of all sides of Grant’s life, explaining how this simple Midwesterner could at once be so ordinary and so extraordinary.
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One of Chernow’s best biographies, read like a novel. Grant was a uniquely honest and respected American war hero who rose from humble beginnings to become a President beset with unmatched political drama.
This is an exceptionally well researched book on U.S. Grant and helps to restore his unique and extraordinary place in history. It is interesting to learn how history was essentially rewritten shortly after the Civil War by historians sympathetic to the confederacy to characterize Grant as a drunkard and a corrupt president. Ron Chernow brings forth the truth in amazing detail!
Excellent well researched story of Grant and the Civil War, as well as the rest of his life. So interesting.
Grant is an excellent biography of the Civil War general and the 18th President of the United States. Chernow does an wonderful job of showing you who Grant truly was, from young boy to President. While the bulk of the book is taken up with the Civil War, that’s to be expected as this was what defined Grant in the eyes of the nation. Chernow walks a fine line with this biography, balancing Grant with his almost mythic status along with his personal demons (primarily alcohol), and at the same time he tackles a lot of the revisionist history that was written in the many years after the Civil War and Reconstruction that tried to portray Grant in a less than perfect light. This biography is detailed and balanced and I recommend it to anybody interested in U.S. history.
This is an overly long biography, but every hour of reading invested opens up so many new vistas of knowledge about one of America’s most important Presidents. Fascinating how such a flawed (alcoholism) and naïve individual could literally go from being down to his last dollar not taken by swindlers . . . and a very short time later be commanding the entire Union Army with millions of people clamoring for General Grant to consider the Presidency.
The book is well-written and carefully documented; I do agree with some reviewers that some editing would likely have improved it. But it’s essentially a trilogy: the Civil War, his years in the White House, and then the tumult and financial ruin of his retirement.
The most stirring part of the story is Grant’s passionate commitment to the liberation of America’s millions of slaves held in bondage, and then his leadership during Reconstruction. I find it a wonderful irony that the party of Lincoln and Grant became known as “Radical Republicans” because of their zeal to give citizenship rights to African-Americans and their equal passion for helping to expand and protect their freedom to go to the voting polls and fully participate in democracy. Would that both parties today would pledge to be more Radical in that noble regard.
Tedious but absolutely fascinating. Well documented and very interesting in 2020!
Better than Hamilton
History at its best. Interesting how we know so little about our presidents – and how their character built our nation (usually).
Important history, well written but occasionally bogged down in detail.
A masterpiece! Thoroughly researched and skillfully presented. An honest and straightforward treatment of one of America’s most underrated and maligned presidents. A great read!
Too long and detailed.
Great read. Learned so much about a very turbulent time in history and how Grant was instrumental in leading and seeing our country through it.
An amazing account of the life of our eighteenth president and hero of the Civil War. Brimming with amazing detail from a most humble beginning, a reluctant military man, who was so honest and trusting that he was constantly taken advantage of by rivals. Calm and decisive, even under the most trying of circumstances, Grant proves to be the most dogged, determined leader at times when the country most needs an esteemed leader.
One of the most amazing, best biographies I’ve ever read. Highly recommend.
A very thorough biography that presents a very different portrait of Grant.
It was a great read and very interesting. Another great book from Ron.
Excellent read about a man that was played down due to the romanticism of the Confederacy. Also a great example of what is almost uniquely American. About someone from no where achieving great things. He could not have been a general in any other country.
Interesting life of Grant. He is not appreciated enough.
Myth busting review of Grant. Well worth the time and the reader will walk away with a new appreciation of Grant the General and Grant the President.
Very interesting to learn about Pres. Grant’s ups and downs. Never knew he has such a hard life. Now I want to read his autobiography; if I can get a copy?