Grant

Epub

English language

Published April 4, 2017 by Penguin Press.

ISBN:
978-0-525-52195-2
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
1033488680

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4 stars (1 review)

The #1 New York Times bestseller.

Named one of the 10 Best Books of 2017 by The New York Times Book Review.

Pulitzer 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 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 …

8 editions

A humanizing look at a towering figure in history

4 stars

Grant's legacy seems to have waned and waxed as we collectively grapple with the era he shaped—the American Civil War and Reconstruction. Chernow portrays Grant as a man who remained relatively unchanged by pressure, stress, fame, and power. While it sometimes resulted in trusting people that could not be trusted, it also let him wage a new kind of war and persevere in protecting the lives and livelihoods of freed black citizens. Chernow's biography of Grant is accessible and readable, and if he shows some preference for his subject, it is quite understandable.