Ulysses s Grant [Hardcover]

Hamlin Garland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1988 | ISBN-10: 0781212251 | ISBN-13: 978-0781212250

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Reprint Services Corp (May 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0781212251
• ISBN-13: 978-0781212250
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,349,298 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Unique Little Bio, January 8, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Ulysses s Grant (Hardcover)

Over a hundred years since it was first published, this is still one of the premier biographies of Grant. Whether that is a tribute to the superior merits of this book or the weaknesses of modern Grant scholarship is an interesting question. The value of Garland's book lies in the many interviews he conducted with people who knew Grant best, particularly his wife and sons. This generous use of first-person narratives scattered throughout the book has both pluses and minuses. While the universal faultiness of human memory has to be carefully considered when reading these recollections (some of which describe events that took place more than sixty years before Garland interviewed them,) there is nothing more biographically interesting than reading accounts of a person's life given by those who actually saw this life unfold. In fact, it's a pity no historian has thought to publish a book consisting only of the full texts of these many interviews Garland conducted, as the ultimate oral history of Grant. With proper annotation, it would probably be the finest book about him yet.

One of my main gripes with this book--other than the caveat about the uncertainty that always surrounds old memories of the past--is Garland's writing style. I have never read any of his other works, but I am aware that he was a popular novelist in his day, and still commands a substantial cult following. This surprises me a little, because I find his prose style tends to alternate between leaden clunkiness and a prim sappiness ("There is a whisper to be heard, also, of a little maid living in those days whose face and voice had come to be very precious to Ulysses...") Such absurdly florid lines strongly suggest that at times Garland forgot that he wasn't writing one of his novels. Another drawback is that the book would have greatly benefited from footnotes--or, at least, more clues from Garland about which of his sources gave him what information.

Also, rather startlingly, the section where Garland writes about Kate Lowe, a girl Grant knew when he was a West Point cadet, is plagarized from William Conant Church's 1897 biography! (Or did Church steal from Garland? Doris Kearns Goodwin, come home. All is forgiven!)

All in all, however, it's still a book well worth reading for anyone with an interest in Grant--or anyone who wishes to develop one.