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jdintr's review against another edition
4.0
Chernow will be rightly criticized for the level of sympathy he shows to Grant in this book. He goes out of his way, at times, to discredit the rumors of drunkenness that dogged Grant from his (rightful) dismissal from the Army to his death bed, where he refused even a taste of whiskey to numb the pain of throat cancer. He minimizes Grant's culpability in the corruption of his administration and the outright pyramid scheme that bankrupted him--and thousands of others--two years before his death.
Grant was a man whose blunders were almost as monumental as his achievements--saving the Union, pursuing equality and voting rights for African Americans, and becoming as president a man known for pursuing peace and laying the groundwork for international reconciliation through the United Nations.
Chernow's book is thick. Deservedly so. Grant accomplished a lot. In his day, he was seen as equal to Washington as a general (and as savior of the country). In the 130 years since his death, he has been eclipsed by the pernicious Lost Cause Movement that successfully kept the values of the Confederacy alive. Even amidst the country's strong reaction to the Charlottesville protests, I would venture that there are more statues of Robert E Lee throughout the country than of the man who ground Lee's army into dust, who leapt from victory to victory.
I guess the greatest contribution that Chernow makes to my knowledge of Grant is Grant's patriotism. It is clear that, within months of the beginning of the Civil War, Grant grasped the patriotic ideals that underpinned the word, "Union." Though married into a slave-owning family, Grant's anti-slavery views were held before the war and strengthened throughout it.
As general of the armies in the years after the war, it was Grant who kept Lincoln's ideals alive, even as Andrew Johnson retreated from ideological gains made possible from the war.
It was tough to read about Reconstruction in this book. Terrorists carrying confederate flags and dressed in white organized in the South and sought to intimidate newly enfranchised African Americans and liberal white Republicans. Chernow's descriptions of the violence, and the resolute efforts to rewrite the ending of the Civil War, are depressing, even as my own southern community fills once again with confederate flags and gun clubs in the wake of Obama's presidency. This section left me profoundly depressed for my region and my country.
Read this book! You will learn a lot, as I did, and you will become reacquainted with one of the five or six foremost Americans in history.
Grant was a man whose blunders were almost as monumental as his achievements--saving the Union, pursuing equality and voting rights for African Americans, and becoming as president a man known for pursuing peace and laying the groundwork for international reconciliation through the United Nations.
Chernow's book is thick. Deservedly so. Grant accomplished a lot. In his day, he was seen as equal to Washington as a general (and as savior of the country). In the 130 years since his death, he has been eclipsed by the pernicious Lost Cause Movement that successfully kept the values of the Confederacy alive. Even amidst the country's strong reaction to the Charlottesville protests, I would venture that there are more statues of Robert E Lee throughout the country than of the man who ground Lee's army into dust, who leapt from victory to victory.
I guess the greatest contribution that Chernow makes to my knowledge of Grant is Grant's patriotism. It is clear that, within months of the beginning of the Civil War, Grant grasped the patriotic ideals that underpinned the word, "Union." Though married into a slave-owning family, Grant's anti-slavery views were held before the war and strengthened throughout it.
As general of the armies in the years after the war, it was Grant who kept Lincoln's ideals alive, even as Andrew Johnson retreated from ideological gains made possible from the war.
It was tough to read about Reconstruction in this book. Terrorists carrying confederate flags and dressed in white organized in the South and sought to intimidate newly enfranchised African Americans and liberal white Republicans. Chernow's descriptions of the violence, and the resolute efforts to rewrite the ending of the Civil War, are depressing, even as my own southern community fills once again with confederate flags and gun clubs in the wake of Obama's presidency. This section left me profoundly depressed for my region and my country.
Read this book! You will learn a lot, as I did, and you will become reacquainted with one of the five or six foremost Americans in history.
deelightfull's review against another edition
4.0
It was loooooong, but good. As I was listening, I enjoyed it, but sometimes had a hard time coming back to it, taking breaks with shorter form audio. I have a BA in history, and learned plenty. However, I'm not a fan of military history, and if you are or you aren't, be aware that this book is not that. The progress of the Civil War factors in, OF COURSE, but there's not a whole lot of detail on who flanked left and who ambushed who, etc. I found the presidential history, which I knew very little of, much more interesting.
kendrajbean's review against another edition
5.0
Honestly one of the best biographies I’ve ever read.
cheraford's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book. A long read but a great story. I knew very little about Grant prior to reading this and didn't realize how much he did as President
ceroon56's review against another edition
4.0
I can’t believe this book has been my companion so long. I started with the hardback and only read at home. When I finally got the ebook the pace increased. It says much that I could pick it up at any time and jump right back in. Was so especially poignant to read in contrast to our current political climate. Oh for strong leaders - sigh.
tsharris's review against another edition
3.0
Mostly okay. Needlessly long at times and Chernow's determination to discuss every rumored drinking episode gets really repetitive and boring after a while, and also disrupts the narrative flow. Does some good work reclaiming Grant's reputation, but might have benefited from a bit more contextualizing about the factions within the Republican Party after 1865.
citizen_noir's review against another edition
5.0
"That sturdy old Roman, Benjamin Butler, made the negro a contraband, Abraham Lincoln made him a freeman, and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant made him a citizen."
- Frederick Douglas
I nearly cried when I reached the moment of Ulysses S. Grant's death in Ron Chernow's biography of the 18th U.S. President, GRANT. This isn't because books or death don't make me cry; I still remember sobbing at 2am a few years back over the death of Gus McCrae in LONESOME DOVE by Larry McMurtry. However, my reaction to Grant's death took me by surprise because this is a non-fiction book and I knew that the main character was going to die the entire time I was reading it. (He did live back in the 1800's after all!) The reason for the strong emotions was that Grant felt not just real to me, but also very dear. This is a tribute to the talent and mastery of Ron Chernow, and his ability to breathe new life into some of the most important, and in Grant and Alexander Hamilton’s cases, forgotten historic U.S. figures.
Ask almost anyone about Ulysses S. Grant and they will tell you three things: 1.) he succeeded during the Civil War because the North had more soldiers, money, and supplies than the South; 2.) he was a drunk; and 3.) his presidency was mired by corruption and scandal.
I suppose there is some truth to each of these statements, but Chernow does an amazing job of analyzing each one throughout the 970 pages of this book and, for the most part, dispelling them as revisionist history. Let me try to do so here, albeit more briefly:
1.) Why is that so many Confederate generals are revered for their brilliance and bravery on the battlefield and yet, time after time, when they came up against Grant, they lost? Perhaps it's because Grant was a much better general than he is given credit for today. One thing that Chernow depicts so well is how Grant visualized the battle space, not just the battlefield, but the entire space of war. When he finally was put in command of all the Union forces, he wielded them across the entire Confederacy, from Sherman in the South, to Sheridan in the Shenandoah. It was an innovative and brilliant strategy, one that brought Robert E. Lee to his knees, and caused the Confederacy to crumble. From the siege of Vicksburg, to the Battle of Shiloh, to the surrender at Appomatox, Grant proved time and again that he was a methodical, ruthless, and brilliant military commander.
2.) Yes, it's true, Ulysses S. Grant was a drunk; a horrible, terrible drunk. He couldn't handle even a small amount of liquor (people noticed how after just a drink or two he would slur his words), and there were several episodes were he disappeared for days on benders. But what is more true, and something that Chernow chronicles so well, is that Grant knew he was an alcoholic and fought valiantly against the problem. He aligned himself with people (usually his aide-de-camp, John Rawlins, and his wife, Julia Grant) who challenged him night and day to fight the temptation. And for the most part, Grant beat his addiction. In his later years as president, he was known to turn his wine glass upside down during banquets and state dinners, openly signaling that he did not want to be served alcohol. So while the Grant-haters have maligned him as a hopeless drunk, I prefer to celebrate him as an alcoholic who overcame his demons; one has to admire the strength it took him to do so.
3.) Chernow spends much time on the third criticism, delving into the various scandals that erupted during Grant's presidency and post-presidency, and making a strong case that Grant acted with honesty and dignity during his years after the Civil War. One of the most heartbreaking stretches of the book details the failure of Reconstruction, due mostly to the relentless campaign of genocide (yes, after reading this book, I’m calling it a genocide) against Southern blacks by whites, hellbent on avenging their losses in the Civil War. Grant did his best to combat this unthinkable time, including facing withering criticism for deploying federal troops in the South to stop the violence. His fight for voting rights, equal rights, and equal protection under the law for blacks earned him much praise from Frederick Douglas, who said: "In him the Negro found a protector, the Indian a friend, a vanquished foe a brother, an imperiled nation a savior."
When it comes to Grant's scandals, he did have one serious flaw - he seemed incapable of spotting the swindler in the crowd, much less the one right by his side. This is best revealed in the final chapter of the book when Grant and his family pour their life savings into a Ponzi scheme run by Ferdinand Ward, a family friend. When the scheme finally toppled, Grant was penniless, leading him to write his famous memoirs. This is the part of the book that hit me hardest: the image of Grant, dying from throat cancer, hurriedly scribbling out his memoirs so that he could leave something of value behind for his wife and family. "I am a verb instead of a personal pronoun. A verb is anything that signifies to be; to do; or to suffer. I signify all three."
At its heart, GRANT is a Bildungsroman: a rags-to riches-back to rags- back to riches tale of one of our most important Americans. Thank you Ron Chernow for writing this amazing biography.
And now, just for fun, here are a few factoids I learned about Grant that I never knew:
* The S in his name didn't stand for anything! His real name was Hiram Ulysses Grant. Grant didn't like the name because of the acronym HUG. The S was inserted as an accident and stuck with him throughout his life.
* Three members of Grant's wedding party fought for the Confederacy, including his best man (James Longstreet) who surrendered to Grant at Appomatox. Among Grant's pall bearers were two who fought for the Union, and two who fought for the Confederacy.
* Grant smoked 20 cigars a day. Yep, that is not a typo. When he gave them up totally because he was dying, here's what he said as he finished his last one: "Gentlemen, this is the last cigar I shall ever smoke. The doctors tell me that I will never live to finish the work on which my whole energy is centered these days . . . if I do not cease indulging in these fragrant weeds. It is hard to give up an old and cherished friend, that has been your comforter and solace through many weary nights and days. But my unfinished work must be completed, for the sake of those that are near and dear to me.”
* Grant was a fantastic writer. Noted not just in the sparse beauty of his memoirs, but also in many documents from the battlefield and White House. His spontaneous drafting of the surrender document at Appomatox is wonderful moment that depicts his skill. This is what he wrote near the end of his life, when he could no longer speak, and just jotted notes down: "“I am a verb instead of a personal pronoun. A verb is anything that signifies to be; to do; or to suffer. I signify all three.”
* Grant was supposed to be in the president's box at Ford's Theater on the night Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. It was only because Mary Todd Lincoln and Julia Grant didn't get along that Grant opted out of the invitation.
* Mark Twain was the publisher of his memoirs, and openly marveled at the output of Grant's writing at the end. Would you believe that Grant wrote more than 335,000 words in one year, a year in which he was dying of cancer and in excruciating pain?
- Frederick Douglas
I nearly cried when I reached the moment of Ulysses S. Grant's death in Ron Chernow's biography of the 18th U.S. President, GRANT. This isn't because books or death don't make me cry; I still remember sobbing at 2am a few years back over the death of Gus McCrae in LONESOME DOVE by Larry McMurtry. However, my reaction to Grant's death took me by surprise because this is a non-fiction book and I knew that the main character was going to die the entire time I was reading it. (He did live back in the 1800's after all!) The reason for the strong emotions was that Grant felt not just real to me, but also very dear. This is a tribute to the talent and mastery of Ron Chernow, and his ability to breathe new life into some of the most important, and in Grant and Alexander Hamilton’s cases, forgotten historic U.S. figures.
Ask almost anyone about Ulysses S. Grant and they will tell you three things: 1.) he succeeded during the Civil War because the North had more soldiers, money, and supplies than the South; 2.) he was a drunk; and 3.) his presidency was mired by corruption and scandal.
I suppose there is some truth to each of these statements, but Chernow does an amazing job of analyzing each one throughout the 970 pages of this book and, for the most part, dispelling them as revisionist history. Let me try to do so here, albeit more briefly:
1.) Why is that so many Confederate generals are revered for their brilliance and bravery on the battlefield and yet, time after time, when they came up against Grant, they lost? Perhaps it's because Grant was a much better general than he is given credit for today. One thing that Chernow depicts so well is how Grant visualized the battle space, not just the battlefield, but the entire space of war. When he finally was put in command of all the Union forces, he wielded them across the entire Confederacy, from Sherman in the South, to Sheridan in the Shenandoah. It was an innovative and brilliant strategy, one that brought Robert E. Lee to his knees, and caused the Confederacy to crumble. From the siege of Vicksburg, to the Battle of Shiloh, to the surrender at Appomatox, Grant proved time and again that he was a methodical, ruthless, and brilliant military commander.
2.) Yes, it's true, Ulysses S. Grant was a drunk; a horrible, terrible drunk. He couldn't handle even a small amount of liquor (people noticed how after just a drink or two he would slur his words), and there were several episodes were he disappeared for days on benders. But what is more true, and something that Chernow chronicles so well, is that Grant knew he was an alcoholic and fought valiantly against the problem. He aligned himself with people (usually his aide-de-camp, John Rawlins, and his wife, Julia Grant) who challenged him night and day to fight the temptation. And for the most part, Grant beat his addiction. In his later years as president, he was known to turn his wine glass upside down during banquets and state dinners, openly signaling that he did not want to be served alcohol. So while the Grant-haters have maligned him as a hopeless drunk, I prefer to celebrate him as an alcoholic who overcame his demons; one has to admire the strength it took him to do so.
3.) Chernow spends much time on the third criticism, delving into the various scandals that erupted during Grant's presidency and post-presidency, and making a strong case that Grant acted with honesty and dignity during his years after the Civil War. One of the most heartbreaking stretches of the book details the failure of Reconstruction, due mostly to the relentless campaign of genocide (yes, after reading this book, I’m calling it a genocide) against Southern blacks by whites, hellbent on avenging their losses in the Civil War. Grant did his best to combat this unthinkable time, including facing withering criticism for deploying federal troops in the South to stop the violence. His fight for voting rights, equal rights, and equal protection under the law for blacks earned him much praise from Frederick Douglas, who said: "In him the Negro found a protector, the Indian a friend, a vanquished foe a brother, an imperiled nation a savior."
When it comes to Grant's scandals, he did have one serious flaw - he seemed incapable of spotting the swindler in the crowd, much less the one right by his side. This is best revealed in the final chapter of the book when Grant and his family pour their life savings into a Ponzi scheme run by Ferdinand Ward, a family friend. When the scheme finally toppled, Grant was penniless, leading him to write his famous memoirs. This is the part of the book that hit me hardest: the image of Grant, dying from throat cancer, hurriedly scribbling out his memoirs so that he could leave something of value behind for his wife and family. "I am a verb instead of a personal pronoun. A verb is anything that signifies to be; to do; or to suffer. I signify all three."
At its heart, GRANT is a Bildungsroman: a rags-to riches-back to rags- back to riches tale of one of our most important Americans. Thank you Ron Chernow for writing this amazing biography.
And now, just for fun, here are a few factoids I learned about Grant that I never knew:
* The S in his name didn't stand for anything! His real name was Hiram Ulysses Grant. Grant didn't like the name because of the acronym HUG. The S was inserted as an accident and stuck with him throughout his life.
* Three members of Grant's wedding party fought for the Confederacy, including his best man (James Longstreet) who surrendered to Grant at Appomatox. Among Grant's pall bearers were two who fought for the Union, and two who fought for the Confederacy.
* Grant smoked 20 cigars a day. Yep, that is not a typo. When he gave them up totally because he was dying, here's what he said as he finished his last one: "Gentlemen, this is the last cigar I shall ever smoke. The doctors tell me that I will never live to finish the work on which my whole energy is centered these days . . . if I do not cease indulging in these fragrant weeds. It is hard to give up an old and cherished friend, that has been your comforter and solace through many weary nights and days. But my unfinished work must be completed, for the sake of those that are near and dear to me.”
* Grant was a fantastic writer. Noted not just in the sparse beauty of his memoirs, but also in many documents from the battlefield and White House. His spontaneous drafting of the surrender document at Appomatox is wonderful moment that depicts his skill. This is what he wrote near the end of his life, when he could no longer speak, and just jotted notes down: "“I am a verb instead of a personal pronoun. A verb is anything that signifies to be; to do; or to suffer. I signify all three.”
* Grant was supposed to be in the president's box at Ford's Theater on the night Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. It was only because Mary Todd Lincoln and Julia Grant didn't get along that Grant opted out of the invitation.
* Mark Twain was the publisher of his memoirs, and openly marveled at the output of Grant's writing at the end. Would you believe that Grant wrote more than 335,000 words in one year, a year in which he was dying of cancer and in excruciating pain?
upbgirl's review against another edition
5.0
Fascinating. I don't see a Broadway musical anytime soon, but President Grant was a man before his time.
pio_near's review against another edition
5.0
I am in awe of Chernows ability... Though long winded - to take a historical figure, paint him in the most human of terms, then define his Era by his actions. Grant is a confirmation of his skills in telling a known story in a completely different way, showing Grant not just as the orchestrator of Appomatix, but as one of the greatilest military minds to ever have lived. Not just a two term president, but a commanding figure that waded into new waters to save the republic he loved from Civil, economic and humanitarian disasters. From his legendary rise to his heartbreaking defeat from cancer, Chernow paints an intimate portotait of an amazingly human man doing his best and changing the world.
elvenavari's review against another edition
5.0
Review of the audio book, read by Mark Bramhall.
Bramhall is a fantastic narrator. His voice is measured and he never spoke too quickly. I think his voice fit what Chernow was trying to convey about Grant’s personality very well.
A 1,000 page book is quite an undertaking. Listening to it on audio is even more-so in some ways. I feel like I get interrupted more when listening to audio books.
Chernow was very detailed about Grant’s life. I liked that this book was broken up into 4 major parts. Each part helped to shape the man he would later become. I especially enjoyed the pieces pulled from Grant’s actual memoirs, as that is what I really wanted to read but was unable to find it.
It never ceases to amaze me the famous people other famous people know. Mark Twain, Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, Susan B. Anthony…etc.
Bramhall is a fantastic narrator. His voice is measured and he never spoke too quickly. I think his voice fit what Chernow was trying to convey about Grant’s personality very well.
A 1,000 page book is quite an undertaking. Listening to it on audio is even more-so in some ways. I feel like I get interrupted more when listening to audio books.
Chernow was very detailed about Grant’s life. I liked that this book was broken up into 4 major parts. Each part helped to shape the man he would later become. I especially enjoyed the pieces pulled from Grant’s actual memoirs, as that is what I really wanted to read but was unable to find it.
It never ceases to amaze me the famous people other famous people know. Mark Twain, Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, Susan B. Anthony…etc.