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Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant - Volume 1
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About the Author
Ulysses Simpson Grant was the eighteenth President of the United States. He was an American general and gained international fame as the leading Union General. It was due to his efforts that the Unionists gained their early victories.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
69 of 69 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
General Grant wrote this book while dying of throat cancer. He had been swindled by a dishonest Wall Street Broker and his trophies and possessions were stripped from him to satisfy the demands of his debtors. Bankrupt, suffering from a terminal illness and never passing a moment without acute pain, he produced this magnificent monument to his greatness. Those who denigrate Grant as a drunkard, butcher, bumbling President need to read this book in order to correct these errant assumptions. It is impossible to read this book and not realize that Grant was an inordinately intelligent man and one hell of a writer.
Grant's Memoirs are a deserved classic in American literature and considered the greatest military Memoirs ever penned, exceeding Caesar's Commentaries. Grant wrote as he lived: with clear, concise statements, unembellished with trivialities or frivolities. The only "criticism" the reader might have is that Grant bent over backwards not to wound the feelings of people in the book. He takes swipes at Joe Hooker and Jeff Davis, but what he left unsaid would have been far more interesting. A compelling and logical reason why Grant was so spare in his comments was because he was involved in a race with death. He didn't know how long he could live and therefore, "cut to the chase."
Grant's assessments of Lincoln, Sherman, Sheridan and other military leaders are brilliant and engrossing. His style, like the man himself, was inimitable and couldn't be copied. In everyday life, Grant was a very funny man, who liked to listen to jokes and tell them himself. His sense of the absurd was acute. It's no accident that he loved Mark Twain and the two hitched together very well. Twain and Grant shared a similar sense of humor, and Grant's witicisms in the Memoirs are frequent, unexpected and welcome. There are portions where you will literally laugh out loud.
Though Grant's Memoirs were written 113 years ago, they remain fresh, vibrant and an intensely good read. I have read them in! their entirity 30 times in my life and I never weary of the style and language that Grant employed. He was a military genius to be sure, but he was also a writer of supreme gifts, and these gifts shine through on every page of this testament to his greatness. All Americans should read this book and realize what we owe to Grant: he preserved the union with his decisive brilliance. In his honor, we should be eternally grateful.
33 of 33 people found the following review helpful
By L. Lawson
Format:Kindle Edition
President Grant wrote this memoir near the end of his life and it was a huge success, selling enough copies to help his family financially after he was gone. He does an excellent job of describing his improbably rise to success in the Union Army during the Civil War.
For those of us who know nothing about warfare, his description of the campaigns will be real eye-openers. In this age of instant communications, we don't often think about the logistical problems of coordinating an attack. If you arrange an attack at a particular time of day, you can't rely on accurate watches. For one assault, his written instructions were for another general to attack an army from the other side when they heard his army open fire. Distance, a trick of the wind, and fog can all prevent the other army from hearing the fighting.
He also goes into detail about the huge logistical efforts involved in his campaigns. He spends considerable time addressing the belief that the South had better generals.
Read it and decide for yourself.
For those of us who know nothing about warfare, his description of the campaigns will be real eye-openers. In this age of instant communications, we don't often think about the logistical problems of coordinating an attack. If you arrange an attack at a particular time of day, you can't rely on accurate watches. For one assault, his written instructions were for another general to attack an army from the other side when they heard his army open fire. Distance, a trick of the wind, and fog can all prevent the other army from hearing the fighting.
He also goes into detail about the huge logistical efforts involved in his campaigns. He spends considerable time addressing the belief that the South had better generals.
Read it and decide for yourself.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I concur with the first reviewer: this book made a civilian like myself understand a bit more of the complexity of any military campaign. In the subsequent sections (speaking of the free Kindle version) Grant also gives his opinion on a variety of subjects of national importance, though there is next to nothing of his time in the White House.
This transcription is quite good; here and there there are a few errors but they are not so frequent as to destroy the flow of the narrative.
This transcription is quite good; here and there there are a few errors but they are not so frequent as to destroy the flow of the narrative.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A study of a great general
Grant's memoirs should be read on two levels. The first is the historical narrative, the course of not only Grant's life but also the course of the Civil War, probably my prime... Read more
Published 4 days ago by jonm
4.0 out of 5 stars
wonderful time travel
Love the book! a different time and place.a time when honor and responsiblity were the norm.
Grant is a forgotten President but a great man.
Grant is a forgotten President but a great man.
Published 12 days ago by Judith Callahan
3.0 out of 5 stars
Grant on Grant
Interesting, if you are a history buff. I know one reader who loved it from the first
few pages. He couldn't put it down.
few pages. He couldn't put it down.
Published 17 days ago by John Herrmann
4.0 out of 5 stars
Needs maps
Subject to my comments below, this is a remarrkable book, It brings to life a man of whom I knew only through the fuzzy lens of a brief mention in some long forgotten history... Read more
Published 25 days ago by Interested customer
5.0 out of 5 stars
An essential read for Civil War buffs.
General Grant is an excellent journalist and writer. Vicksburg is a battle that contributed more to the ultimate outcome of the War than many understand. Read more
Published 1 month ago by fairandbalanced
4.0 out of 5 stars
Civil War interest
Both Vol .1 & Vol. 2 were interest to the point of learning what the actual troops had to do to survive during this war and learned more about general Grant.
Published 1 month ago by Gene
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very good book
great book, love everything about it.
I will highly recommend this book to
family and friends. I will look for books
like this one.
I will highly recommend this book to
family and friends. I will look for books
like this one.
Published 1 month ago by tm6955
4.0 out of 5 stars
4+ stars
Interesting and well written in Grants own words. Lets you read in the style of the times and debunks some history errors.
Published 1 month ago by Jim & Virginia Lemon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Splendid
Not just a memoir of the man who won the Civil War, but a recreation of America in the 19th Century from long before that war began. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Lawrence J. Demaria
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not like the photo
The book arrived with no dust jacket. The price was pretty hefty, but the price did not translate into quality. I was disappoint with the binding. Read more
Published 2 months ago by jd
