President Grant Reconsidered [Paperback]

Frank J. Scaturro (Author), Frank, J. Scaturro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1999

President Grant Reconsidered shatters myths about America's 18th president.

Product Details

• Paperback: 137 pages
• Publisher: Madison Books; 1 edition (November 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568331320
• ISBN-13: 978-1568331324
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,972,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant general and an underrated president, October 23, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: President Grant Reconsidered (Hardcover)

This book presents a compelling argument for why US Grant's much-maligned presidency actually was far more successful than the "conventional wisdom" would hold. This especially is true in the areas of Reconstruction (where Grant's attempts to protect the rights of the freed blacks would not be equalled until the 1960s), international affairs (where the resolution of the ALABAMA claims established standards still used today for the peaceful arbitration of international disputes), the economy (in which Grant's politically unpopular stances on principle served well the long-term interests of the United States), and in presidential relationships with the Congress. It also dispells many of the myths surrounding the "corruption" in the Grant Administration, thus helping to explain why Grant remained extraordinarily popular after he left office, so much so that four years later (in 1880), there were serious efforts to have Grant break precedent and seek a third term. This book is but one of many recent scholarly efforts in which Grant's reputation, both as a brilliant general and as an able chief executive, are being restored.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revisionism At Its Best, January 9, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: President Grant Reconsidered (Paperback)

This is probably the bravest Grant book ever written. Even those biographers favorable to him have a tendency, like so many sheep, to parrot the same old lines about him as the bumbling, inept politician who presided over one of the most corrupt administrations is American history. It does not seem to bother these historians that they are, for the most part, simply repeating partisan attacks that had been made against him by his political enemies for their own questionable (to say the least) reasons.

Frank Scaturro is the first writer I have ever seen to use a fresh approach to the Grant presidency, pointing out not only that the much touted scandals of his term in office were frequently based on weak or exaggerated evidence, but that Grant himself was a strong, enlightened leader who accomplished more than most want to admit. It seems that the victor of Vicksburg and Appomattox was not all that different from the man who occupied the White House, after all.

This book is highly recommended for anyone who wants to hear "the other side of the story" of Grant's oft-belittled political career.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally- A Honest Account of the Grant Presidency!, March 11, 2001

By 

Karl Granat - See all my reviews

This review is from: President Grant Reconsidered (Paperback)

During the 50 years following the Civil War, the presidency of U. S. Grant was completely distored in an attempt to diminish the accomplishments of the Grant era (Civil Rights) and to take away some of the luster from the man who saved the Union.

The Democratic party- particullary of the South- stiffled the great civil rights efforts of the Republicans during reconstruction. As time passed, and voting rights and other legislative initatives of the Granta administration were dismembered by the Southern Demacrats, they constantly sought to sully the memory of Grant. One of the keys to that effort was portraying the Grant administration in a bad light in terms of corruption. This was done by distortion history, and the outright falsification of the facts involved in the Grant administration. To a large extent these distortions have not been challanged.

Grant Reconsidered presents the historical record in a straight fowrward manner: The Grant presidency offered tremendous acomplishments- and really offered a bridge from a slave nation to a nation where all men have the same rights. An outstanding book!!