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Edward G. Longacre

General Ulysses S. Grant: The Soldier and the Man Hardcover – June 19, 2006

by Edward G. Longacre (Author)

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Despite his reputation for rash decisions, brutal tactics, and intemperate behavior, Ulysses S. Grant was the only Union general who could win the war for Lincoln. Grant's aggressive strategies, swift movements and uncompromising battlefield attacks were praised in the North, feared in the South, and reviled by many of his own associates and staff. General Grant is, perhaps, one of the most controversial, enigmatic, and misunderstood generals in our nation's history. In this new biography of Grant, acclaimed Civil War historian, Edward G. Longacre, examines Grant's early life, military training at West Point, and his later military career for insights into his great battlefield successes and his personal misfortune. Longacre, to a degree that no other historian has done before, investigates Grant's drinking as well as his devout religious affiliation with temperance movements, and the role these conflicting forces had on his military career and conduct. Longacre's conclusions may surprise readers, but no one will doubt the research and scholarship behind them. As he has done in all his previous military biographies, Longacre challenges readers and scholars alike with a new perspective on the ever-fascinating life of General Grant.

Print length

368 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Da Capo Press
Publication date

June 19, 2006
Dimensions

6.25 x 1.25 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

030681269X
ISBN-13

978-0306812699
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his well-written account, Longacre, a prolific author of Civil War histories (most recently Women on the Civil War Battlefront), illuminates not only Grant's military career but also the infrequently covered terrain of his childhood and adolescence. Admirably, Longacre resists the temptation to retroactively classify events from Grant's youth as harbingers of his greatness. In fact, it's surprising and satisfying to see just how improbable Grant's success was. While at West Point, he attained a mediocre record and held pessimistic views on his prospects as an officer. His pre-Civil War years were marred by drinking binges that Longacre convincingly argues led to Grant's unceremonious resignation from the military, and an itinerant existence that had him working as a farmer, in a real-estate office, and finally at his father's tannery. It is not an act of negligence on Longacre's part that Grant unpredictably subverts the expectations these events intimate in the reader; he similarly outstripped the expectations of his soldiers, who initially ribbed him for his modest build. Longacre writes a breezy and informative account of Grant's numerous battlefield successes, his occasional lapses into drunkenness, and run-ins with his peers, ending with the last days of the war. Longacre remains even handed throughout and maintains a lively pace without stooping to simplification.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In its level of detail, this Grant biography rests between a comprehensive title, such as Brooks Simpson's Ulysses S. Grant (2000), and the recent slew of brief profiles exemplified by Josiah Bunting III's Ulysses S. Grant (2004). Longacre positions his work as an examination of aspects of the Union Civil War general that he regards as neglected or controversial, and he further limits the subject by drawing the curtain at April 1865. Grant's supposed intemperance is prominent in Longacre's narrative, and Longacre is convinced that Grant was an alcoholic. Injecting caveats to this conclusion--for example, few of the -drunken-Grant stories are contemporaneous with the episodes they purport to describe--Longacre in effect lays out the proposition, leaving readers to judge its validity. Other angles Longacre addresses are Grant's relationship with his parents and his military ability. The latter will be the principal draw for Civil War buffs, who can compare Longacre's criticisms with the positive assessment presented in John Mosier's Grant (2006). Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Da Capo Press (June 19, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 030681269X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0306812699
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.45 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.25 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,347,427 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,164 in American Civil War Biographies (Books)
- #18,330 in U.S. Civil War History

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14 ratings

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Biggreenmachine

Ends Too Soon

Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2009

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Having recently finished reading "Team of Rivals," my appetite was whetted for a follow up to the post Lincoln reconstruction era. I started with Johnson and was looking forward to continuing with a greater knowledge of our 18th president.

For an early history of Grant through the end of the Civil War, the "Soldier and the Man" provides a wonderful biography of Grant and most certainly explores his strengths and weaknesses. Actually, the weaknesses are so substantial, one wonders how this man could have been successful transitioning from a very unpolitical general to the highest political office in the United States.

Unfortunately for me, I will have to read another book on Grant to find out, as the books ends rather abruptly with the treaty at Appomattox. I will highly recommend the book if that's as far as you want to go in Grant's life. Had I been more careful in my selection, I would have opted for a "cradle to grave" rendition.

4 people found this helpful

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Kevin F. Kiley

Grant the Drunkard

Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2013

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I have great respect for Edward Longacre as a historian and scholar and have some of his books. I have always found them easy to read and understand, as well as accurate military history and the type of books that allow themselves because of that accuracy to be used as source material themselves, either when researching a book or in writing papers for publication.

This time, however, the author's book on Grant is a near-miss.

It seems that the author's premise is to prove that Grant was a drunkard or using a more 'modern' and acceptable term, an alcoholic . Unfortunately, the arguments presented not only do not prove that thesis, but tends to venture into the realm of 'psychobabble' to prove his point.

This subject was handled more than adequately by Bruce Catton in his two-volume study of Grant and Catton trumps this author in his handling of the available evidence and whether or not Grant was a drunkard. In short, Grant was not. He drank in an army that drank, and it wasn't chronic or an everyday occurrence.

There is a tendency to over react to many events in today's world, and the emphasis on 'political correctness' does get just a little old. This appears to be the tendency in this volume, and while I don't believe the author is accurate in his assessment of Grant and alcohol, I do recommend that the book be read. The author's point of view should be taken into account, and then read Catton's two books on Grant (Grant Moves South and Grant Takes Command) and then make up your own mind.

6 people found this helpful

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CW Nurse

Disappointed

Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2016

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Extremely disappointed. It seems like an extension of Professor Dorsett's dissertation. Too many surmises and
suppositions on Grant's drinking.

Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2010

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This is a great book!!! I love all the info it has on grant, you could not ask for a better biography. It came on time as promised...

One person found this helpful

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Shannon Gaw

so-so as a bio

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2011

My only exposure to "General Ulysses S. Grant: The Soldier and the Man" was through the Audible version. I did not particularly like the narrator's voice and style, and while that is certainly not the fault of the author, it cannot help but bias a review. Yet I am generally pro- Grant and a CW buff, and thus I found it good enough to listen to the entire presentation.

Longacre provides a sufficient if brief survey of Grant's early life and career prior to the war. I thought the account of Grant's Civil War record was solid through Vicksburg, but felt his retelling of Grant as commander of the entire army was generally retread of war reporting rather than the tight subject focus one would expect in a biography. The short treatment of 1865 and the abrupt ending of the tale at Appomattox felt like the auther had to rush a conclusion in order to meet a deadline.

Longacre appeared too quick to draw his conclusions from limited supporting material, for example, as to whether Grant deserved the butcher moniker. Too often he noted a solitary incident in Grant's behavior and said it "dispels the myth" of this or that. The author is decidedly pro-Grant and while he did not eschew Grant's rumored alcoholism, charges of indifference to carnage and preferential treatment of friends like Sherman, he certainly addressed in a supporting fashion. I think I would have preferred a more critical and objective treatment. I attribute this less to the author's hero worship than to an insufficient quantity of research into his subject.

While I frequently buy print or Kindle versions of Audible books I really like, this is not one of them. I will try the other bios from Smith and Waugh. I do think it is premature to draw any conclusions on Grant's life without looking at his two-term presidential history, or any post-Army career whatsoever, and unfortunately, "General Ulysses S. Grant: The Soldier and the Man" ended way too soon.

My bottom-line recommendation: if all you have bandwidth for is an audiobook, the Audible version from Longacre will suffice. If you have the time to read a Grant bio, look elsewhere, especially Grant's own memoirs.

One person found this helpful

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Mr. Christopher Harris

Special pleading?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 25, 2016

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I suppose this is quite interesting if you are a fan of Rosecrans but it looks to be a case of special pleading to me. Even if Grant was ungenerous or even unfair to Rosecrans he was a pretty poor general. It wasn't Grant who got his army in a mess at Chickamauga by concentrating forward in the face of the enemy. It wasn't Grant who fled the battlefield at Chickamauga leaving Thomas to sort out the mess. Lastly it wasn't Grant who did nothing whilst his army starved at Chattanooga.

It's interesting as a possible sidelight on the Civil War but nothing more in my opinion. Oh and by the way, whilst Grant was unable to handle his drink he had none of the characteristics of an alcoholic.

Alexander McKay

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 8, 2016

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heavy going, little sparkle

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