That Fateful Lightning: A Novel of Ulysses S. Grant [Hardcover]

Richard Parry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 6, 2000

In a village outside Saratoga Springs, New York, a weakened man sits with pen in hand, looking back at a life dominated by failure: as a farmer, a businessman, a politician--everything but as a soldier. Racked by cancer, Ulysses S. Grant is entering his final months, facing the prospect of leaving his beloved wife penniless. Now he begins one last campaign--to bring to life the only thing of value he still commands: his memoirs. In the weeks and days that follow, Grant tells a story of war and peace, of friends and enemies, and of a man born for one singular purpose--to lead an army into battle, and to lead it to victory.

In this extraordinary novel, Richard Parry takes us on a powerful journey through the Civil War as seen through the shrewd, unwavering eyes of its most enigmatic and least understood protagonist. For as Grant wages a duel against death itself, and his friends and family gather around him, he reveals with stunning clarity his vision of the war: at once a tragedy and a challenge, a nightmare and a puzzle, an epic of carefully laid strategies and counter-strategies as well as a strokes of inexplicable, decisive chance.

Within these pages we meet such powerful historical figures as Mark Twain, the book publisher trying desperately to rescue Grant from poverty in the last year of his life; William Tecumseh Sherman, brilliant and dynamic, but also unsure and sorely in need of Grant's nurturing in war and life; and General Robert E. Lee, whose differences from Grant vividly illustrate the cultural and social divide at the core of the Civil War.

A rich, vivid, and action-packed addition to our nation's literature of the Civil War, That Fateful Lightning is a powerful portrait of a uniquely American hero, a simple but misunderstood man who felt truly at peace only amid the horror and chaos of war.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ulysses S. Grant was a complex, enigmatic figure whose flaws and foibles provide a wealth of material for biographers and novelists alike, but Parry smoothes over the rough edges in this glowing fictional portrait by focusing exclusively on Grant's achievements during the Civil War. The construction is simple: as the novel opens, Grant is diagnosed with throat cancer, and the assiduously researched narrative follows the general's struggle to finish his memoirs before the disease takes his life. Encouraged by enthusiastic publisher Mark Twain (the eminent author's publishing venture later went bankrupt), Grant begins his text with detailed accounts of the pivotal battles at Shiloh and Vicksburg, illuminating the innovative decisions that led to victory. Parry nicely delineates the various generals Grant fought with and against, particularly William Tecumseh Sherman and Robert E. Lee, balancing these portraits with brief glimpses into the lives of ordinary soldiers and of Grant's long-suffering wife, Julia. Though he explores the political situations that made Grant's often-misunderstood decisions so agonizing, Parry examines the general's battles with the bottle only sparingly, most notably during a drinking binge when his colleagues cover for him and thus save his career. The narrative takes on some urgency in the closing chapters as Parry draws touching parallels between the final siege in the Wilderness that opened the door to Richmond, and Grant's race against time to finish the book before cancer brings his life to a close. The author's obvious affection for his subject gives this novel an overly sympathetic bias, but that affection also allows him to illuminate Grant's elusive human side. 5-city author tour. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

From a wealthy friend's front porch near Saratoga Springs, NY, a dying U.S. Grant looks back on a life of failure as a farmer, businessman, and politician: only in war did he succeed. Parry (The Wolf's Pack) depicts his subject's inspiring race to complete his memoirs and thereby save his family from financial ruin. As Grant writes, his mind flashes back to his service during the Mexican War; his forced resignation from the army (for drinking); his lean years (1857-58) as a woodcutter in Galena; his rise to the command of the Army of the Tennessee following Fort Sumter; his tactical brilliance at Shiloh and Vicksburg; and, finally, his triumph at Appomattox Court House. Parry skims over his subject's two controversial presidential terms. Interspersed throughout the narrative are truly evocative scenes, including editor Mark Twain's incredible offer of 70 percent royalties to Grant for his memoirs and Col. John Rawlin's monumental struggle to keep Grant sober on the battlefield. Parry somewhat overstates Grant's sense of divine mission while understating his alarming tendency to battlefield overconfidence. His narrative occasionally surrenders to saccharine melodrama, especially in Grant's deathbed scene, where Lee emerges from a blinding light. Still, Parry's novel successfully captures the essence of a dying hero's struggle with the grim realities of life. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.
-John Edwards, Univ. of Georgia Libs., Athens
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st edition (June 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345427289
• ISBN-13: 978-0345427281
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,413,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well-written but laden with errors, July 2, 2000

By 

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

This review is from: That Fateful Lightning: A Novel of Ulysses S. Grant (Hardcover)

This is admittedly a beautifully-written novel about Ulysses S. Grant. But there are a number of grating errors which begs the question: why didn't the author do a little more research? Had Richard Parry bothered to read even minimally about Grant, he would not have claimed he was "born and raised in Galena, Illinois." In fact Grant never laid eyes on Galena until he was in his late 30's. Grant was also not the Colonel of the "221st Illinois Regiment." Such bizarre and unnecessary gaffes seriously compromise the integrity of the novel.

Some will think this criticism is foolish, after all, who expects an historical novel to concern itself with accuracy? But Parry makes its plain that he was intent on producing a novel which was strictly based on fact and actual events.

Unfortunately he misses the mark here. If you are only a marginal follower of Grant's career this is an adequate introduction, but it would be wiser to read non-fiction, creditible treatments on his life by Bruce Catton, Brooks Simpson or John Y. Simon.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, February 3, 2001

By 

Gerald R. Hibbs (Edmond, OK USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: That Fateful Lightning: A Novel of Ulysses S. Grant (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book of narrative history that brings Grant to life and puts him on your own front porch where you'd like to rock and have a conversation with him clear through to sunset.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Engaging Story, But the Errors Are Distracting, May 16, 2005

By 

90th OVI - See all my reviews

This review is from: That Fateful Lightning: A Novel of Ulysses S. Grant (Hardcover)

I enjoyed this book and will keep it, but...

As others have noted, the author puts too much exposition into character's thoughts and words. I guess he's trying to explain the Civil War for those who aren't familiar with it, but no one talks like these characters do.

There are continuity errors. On one page Sherman has lost his hat; two pages later he discovers a bullet hole in his hat. Early in the book, and in 1885, Mark Twain and Grant smoke cigars; later in the book, and in 1884, Grant smokes his last cigar. The author needed a good editor.

Mark Twain and General Sherman play big parts but they are very flat characters. More detail about their lives in the 1880's, and about Julia Grant's life after U.S. Grant's death, would have been nice. The book does include an epilogue that follows major characters with a paragraph each.

Grant's death scene is too much. Without giving it all away... an old adversary appears "out of the light" to guide Grant on his journey.

I've always been impressed by a photograph of the ailing Grant, all bundled up and sitting on his porch, working on his memoirs. He wrote a powerful book. This novel provides a glimpse into his world and his thoughts at the time, and for that, I appreciate it.