Conversations With General Grant: An Informal Biography [Hardcover]

Thomas G. McConnell (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 236 pages
• Publisher: Walnut Hill Pub Co; 1 edition (June 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1878332112
• ISBN-13: 978-1878332110
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,958,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Specious, facile, but interesting technique, April 4, 2004

By 

Candace Scott (Lake Arrowhead, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conversations With General Grant: An Informal Biography (Hardcover)

This book is seriously flawed and a waste of time for serious historians, but yet... it has some interesting moments. The premise behind the book is that the author is able to interview Ulysses S. Grant and ask him whatever he wishes. This is problematic, because Grant certainly would never have answered most of these questions. Many are too personal and even more relate directly to his drinking, a much-exaggerated aspect of his life. Grant would certainly have given the author a pointed look and then walked off, silent as usual.

But the Grant in this book is effusive and answers every question. No wonder, without this device, the book would have a crashing bore! So we have a voluble and chatty Ulys giving fake psychological insight into his drinking, his military decisions, his cancer and ultimately, his death. It's facile, inane, but one must admit, reasonably entertaining. Don't expect any real history in here because there is none. It's a fictional treatment of the man, but not entirely without merit. For people willing to buy anything on General Grant, this would be something worth owning.