A review by johndiconsiglio
Grant by Ron Chernow

3.0

I know plenty of Hamilton: The Musical fans who started Chernow’s mammoth bio. But did anyone other than Lin-Manuel Miranda finish it? There’s no worry that the even-more-behemothy Grant will be a hip-hop hit. (“My name is Ulysses S. Grant”?) This whopper—1,000 pages of Civil War skirmishes, Reconstruction politics & the personal triumphs & (frequent) failings of the maligned president—wants to correct the record that Grant was a drunk, a battlefield butcher & a corrupt chief exec. It’d prefer history remember his support of civil rights & disdain for the KKK. All the Grant you’ll ever need.