Grant by Ron Chernow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Grant is probably the current definitive biography of Ulysses S Grant. It is a comprehensive look at the life of the the 18th President and victorious leader of the Union forces in the Civil War.
If you have studied or read about the Civil War and the United States in the mid 19th century, you know the basic story. If not, there are spoilers here. Grant went to West Point and served in the Mexican War, along with a host of other officers who served on both sides of the Civil War. Grant struggled with alcoholism and eventually left the army. He was not successful in civilian life and when the Civil War broke out he joined the Union Army. He had a great gift for military leadership and lead the successful campaigns in the western theater, most notably leading to the capture of Vicksburg. When he moved to the eastern theater he lead the campaign that resulted in the capture of Richmond and the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox.
After the end of the war and Lincoln’s assassination, Grant was pushed forward by the Republicans to replace the ineffective Andrew Johnson. Grant was elected to two terms and his administration was marked by a number of scandals, none of which directly involved Grant, but still reflect poorly on his ability to choose the right person for the job. After leaving office, Grant traveled extensively and made and lost a fortune. He completed his memoirs before dying from cancer.
Even though I knew the basic story of Grant’s life, there were still plenty of interesting things that I learned by reading this book. For example, Grant’s support of the rights of African-Americans, both as the leader of the Union Army and later as president was much more extensive than I had been aware of. I also learned a lot about the Reconstruction-era South and the rise of the “Lost Cause” mythology, which to some extent, is still with us today.
The author has written a very long book with a lot of detail in it, but it is an easy read: it’s very well-written and easy to follow. It took me a while to finish it, but I really enjoyed this book.