Customer Reviews

Ulysses S. Grant: Soldier & President (Modern Library Paperbacks)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

This is one of the very best biographies that I have ever read. In addition to being written in a lyrical prose, it offers a much needed corrective to the withering, and unfair, historical portrait that Grant has been stuck with. Let's face it, here's what most of us know about Grant: he didn't do much at West Point, was a failure in business, drank his way through the Civil War, winning only because he was willing to kill his own soldiers, oversaw one of the most corrupt Presidential administrations ever and died. The most important previous biography, William McFeely's Pulitzer Prizewinning Grant (1981), took a sufficiently negative view of Grant that it did little to change, and even reinforced, these received truths. Like almost all misrepresentations in History, there are kernels of truth in the portrait, but it leaves out much and Perret is able to convincingly challenge much of the rest of it.

Missing from that portrayal are Grant's fundamental decency as a man, his exemplary service in the Mexican War, his genuine strategic insight and at times nearly prophetic foresight (as when he offered to have a Cabinet member put his personal wealth in a blind trust), and his authorship of perhaps the best book written by a U. S. President (only Teddy Roosevelt can really challenge for the title), one of the great books of the 19th Century, his Personal Memoirs. Perret gives each of these the full treatment that it deserves and Grant's exceptional character and his control over his emotions and ego run like a leit motif throughout the book.

Perhaps more importantly, Perret takes on each of the negative characterizations that has accrued to Grant's reputation over the years. Grant did perform indifferently at the Military Academy, but Perret points out that simply attending college (and West Point was one of the best in the world) put Grant in the educated elite of his time. Moreover, besides being an exceptional and much envied horseman, Grant performed well in classes that interested him and went on to study military history and tactics for the rest of his life, developing a really fine analytical mind on military matters.

Grant did not do well in business, but he was scrupulously honest and as he first demonstrated as a quartermaster in the Mexican War, he was capable, even gifted, at managing materiel. Later when he was running the entire Union Army, he did so professionally and even brilliantly. It's hard to see how he can be faulted so heavily for bad luck running small businesses and given so little credit for managing what must have been one of the largest enterprises in human history up until that time.

Grant did drink, but there is no evidence that it ever effected the performance of his duties. Also, he drank only when he was lonely. Any time that his wife was in the vicinity he was a virtual teetotaler.

As to the manner in which he won the war, it seems increasingly possible to me that there were only three men on Earth who genuinely understood the dynamics of the Civil war as it was unfolding: Winfield Scott, Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. Winfield Scott, as the War began, enunciated his Anaconda Plan, calling for the North to exploit its superior numbers and for Union troops to close off the Mississippi and then start squeezing the South like a rodent in the grip of a snake. But Scott was an old man by that time and was not capable of managing the effort. Lincoln knew that Scott was correct in his strategic vision, but it fell to him to keep the political plates spinning and to find the generals to carry out the plan. Destiny handed him the ideal instrument in U.S. Grant who grasped the vision and had the iron will to carry it out. If Grant was sometimes willing to suffer losses as the price of engaging the foe, he never wasted lives intentionally and was shattered by the occasions where men under his command did die futilely.

Finally, on the issue of the corruption in his administration, Perret makes one point that I found profound. Grant's administration was not any more corrupt than the ones that succeeded it, but the fact that it was more corrupt than the ones that preceded it has caused it to be seen as extraordinarily scandalous. And it was more scandal ridden, not because of anything intrinsic to Grant, but because one of the consequences of the War was that the Federal government had grown tremendously in size and there was simply more there to steal. Similarly, the explosive growth in the size of government in the past sixty years has been accompanied by an unending series of scandals regardless of administration.

In the end, whether or not Perret succeeds in winning all of these battles to reclaim Grant's reputation, he definitely does get the reader to take a step back and look at Grant with a fresh perspective. The Grant who emerges from this portrait is a genuine American hero and one of the most honorable and decent men ever to become President. This is an outstanding book and a valuable reassessment of a seemingly ordinary man who called upon his own extraordinary will to achieve great things and shape American history. Most highly recommended.

GRADE: A+

This life of Grant is written with grace and verve and it sweeps the reader along from the first page - indeed it is hard to see how any single volume biography could accomplish more. At the end of it however - as at the end of all writings on and by Grant - one is still left bemused by the contradictions in this ostensibly simple, but in reality enormously complex personality. Grant did no less than win the most complex war yet fought by humanity, managing (a word that immediately comes to mind in regard to Grant) in the process unprecedented numbers of troops and mastering the deployment of new weapons systems - such as the river gun-boats - that emerged during the conflict. His tactical abilities grew to cope with exponentially rising sizes of forces and his strategic thinking was distinguished by clarity, courage and ruthlessness. His leadership was such as to carry both officers and men with him in acceptance of brutal solutions to terrible dilemmas. His embodiment of the Churchillian ideal of magnanimity in victory laid the foundations for the re-United States. Few men have carried such a heavy burden with such decency and generosity: power did not make him arrogant nor success dehumanise him. The Mexican War had already given indications of these qualities and yet after it Grant lapsed into virtual failure and demoralisation. The section of this book dealing with the years immediately preceding the Civil War are painful to read, offering an almost too-close insight into the near despair of a decent man unable - perhaps too proud - to find a role in a thrusting, money-grubbing and cut-throat civilian society. Only five years separate the almost penniless failure's humiliating appeal to his father for a job in the family leather store from the surrender-negotiation at Appomattox Court House, and three years more saw him President, albeit reluctantly. In the story of the White House years - and beyond - there is a strong impression of a man bored, part amused, part disgusted, by the pettiness of the scene around him. The set-backs and scandals of his administrations, none of which involved any hint of personal advantage to himself, seem ultimately to stem from an inner abdication. One gains a strong sense of a man who has confronted the absolute and who afterwards finds the relative unworthy of his energies or passions. Throughout this period he nevertheless continued to evoke huge loyalty and a third Presidential term could have been his in 1880, after Hayes' tenure, had he chosen to commit himself fully - but once again there is that impression of a man bored and distant. Only in the last terrible months of his life, enduring financial ruin and hideous pain, does Grant again rise to heroic status, not only producing his memoirs in extremis, but doing so with an elegance that make them an American classic. Nothing is simple in this story - not Grant's emotional and family life, his struggle with alcohol, his politics, his innate integrity - and least of all the origins of his military genius.

This complex, absorbing and inspiring story is well told by Mr.Perret, who finds the right balance between all major elements. The events, excitingly told though they may be, are not allowed to dominate, and Grant's personality is at all times at the centre of the narrative. Quotations are well chosen to enliven the text and there are dozens of illuminating vignettes to add colour and immediacy. The Civil War years are obviously at the heart of the book and Mr.Perret finds the correct balance between overview and detail in handling Grant's vast campaigns. A minor complaint must however be the shortage and low quality of the maps, essential for a work even at this level. A final point is that readers who come to Grant through this volume will delight in "The Armies of U.S.Grant" by James R.Arnold, which traces Grant's growth as a commander in considerable detail and which is also colourful, readable, and enlivened by memorable quotes from Grant and his contemporaries.

You know, many people love to read about History, but we all can't be such incredible experets like our fellow critics here at Amazon. Do you like a great story? Well this one is for you. You don't have to be "Mr. Historian" to enjoy it, and you're not lost in the sometimes tedious and yawn-prevoking details history can provide. This is about an intriging real-life character named Ulysses Grant. What an incredible adventure through the 1800's his life was. The book flows and give you an idea of the type of person Grant was and the time in America he grew up in. The author is certainly a fan of Grant, but does point out all his shortcomings. Bottom line, if you're starting to get to know the Civil War, Mexican War, Lincoln and that time period in History, then you'll enjoy seeing some of it through the eyes of Ulysses Grant. Read the book, you'll like it. I've read many Civil War books and biographies and I did. You can always go back later after you've read the other 45 Grant books and say how much you hated it!

I greatly enjoyed this one volume account of Grant's life, though I found the flippant prose to a little unsettling for a work of history. Author Perret is genearlly sympathetic to his subject (even Grant's presidency, which he concludes was no worse than numerous others from the nineteenth century). In a few spots, I found Perret's generalizations to be a bit too general. Nevertheless, the writing is lively and highly readable. For that I would recommend this book to anyone with a general interest in American History, especially the Civil War period. Grant remains a somewhat misunderstood figure. This book at least helps to provide his memory with some clarity.

He was born Hiram Ulysses Grant in 1822 (how he became Ulysses S. Grant is a story in itself). This book, by Geoffrey Perret, is a good workmanlike biography of Grant.

It depicts his childhood and his journey to West Point. It discusses his marriage to Julia (with James Longstreet and Cadmus Wilcox, ironically, as two of his three groomsmen; they would be on opposing sides in the Civil War). It describes his service in the military--including some genuinely courageous behavior in the Mexican War. It also lays out his failures in the Army and his departure. His struggles in Missouri and then working in a family business in Galena, Illinois.

Then, with the outbreak of the Civil War, his opportunity to rejoin the Army and become an officer. The book traces his unassuming rise in the Union Army, from early efforts at Belmont through Forts Henry and Donelson to Shiloh to Vicksburg and so on. Ultimately, of course, he came to command all Union forces and attained the exalted rank of Lieutenant General.

After his work in the Civil War, his presidency is discussed, warts and all. Perret's view is somewhat more nuanced than those of others who have evaluated Grant's terms as President. Nonetheless, his failings are described.

Finally, his desperate dash in the race against death to complete his memoirs and secure some degree of financial security for his family.

This is not a great biography, but it is serviceable and is a nice addition to the literature on Grant.

This is an excellent work and so easy to read and the flow is wonderful. The image we have been led to believe is more accurate here and clear. I can see that famous people endure the attacks but can survive. This is a new view of the US Grant that I have read about and the work is balanced and applies to the current war stategy that we know in the WWII era. Loved the book and so well written I can't wait to get the book on Eisenhower who must have learned a lot from Grant.

I won't give this book a paltry one star as others below have done. It's not at the bottom of the barrel, just close. The problem is that Perret is not an historian of the Civil War. He is not a Bud Robertson, Krick, McPherson or Gallagher. In order to write a good biography of Grant, you have to have a solid foundation of his military tactics and strategy. Perret doesn't have this and makes it obvious. The book is not badly written, I thought it was interesting in places. Maybe a bit overblown sometimes. There is no great biography of Grant which is surprising considering he was quite a fascinating fellow and horribly misunderstood. I think the people writing the reviews are fanatics on Grant and resent all the mistakes. I can scarcely blame them, the errors are outrageously numerous. I still think Bruce Catton's books, though 30 years old, still sparkle. This book does not.

Bio's of Grant get no better than this fine book. A truly balanced book...a real rarity especially considering the plethora of Civil War trash available.

I ordered the book for my husband. General Grant is one of his favorite military history figures.

After reading Last Full Measure, I sought more information on General Grant and happened upon this book. I found the book fascinating in parts, but a bit dull in others. The author certainly likes Grant and treats him well, but he also gives deference to other authors who held less favorable opinions. The Battle of Shiloh is particularly good, as well as the account of Grant's life after the war -- an era which gets little notice in most history classes.