Product Description

Washington, Lincoln, Grant--these were once the triumvirate of American nationalism. But, like his tomb on the Hudson, Grant's reputation has fallen into disrepair. The image many Americans hold of him is a caricature: someone "uniquely stupid," an insensitive butcher as a general, an incompetent mediocrity as president, and a drunk. Several efforts to counter this stereotype have often gone too far in the other direction, resulting in an equally distorted laudatory portrait of near-perfection. In reading the original sources, Brooks D. Simpson became convinced that Grant was neither a bumbling idiot who was the darling of fortune nor a flawless general who could do no wrong. Rather, he was a tangle of opposing qualities--a relentless warrior but a generous victor, a commander who drew upon uncommon common sense in drafting campaign plans and in winning battles, a soldier so sensitive to suffering that he could not stand to see the bloody hides at his father's tannery, a man who made mistakes and sometimes learned from them. Even as he waged war, he realized the broader political implications of the struggle; he came to believe that the preservation of the Union depended upon the destruction of slavery. Equally compelling is Grant's personal story--one of a man who struggled against great odds, bad luck, and personal humiliation, who sought joy and love in the arms of his wife and his children, and who was determined to overcome adversity and prevail over his detractors. "None of our public men have a story so strange as this," Owen Wister once observed; agreeing, William T. Sherman remarked that Grant remained a mystery even to himself. In the first of two volumes, Brooks Simpson brings Grant's story to life in an account that is readable, balanced, compelling, and definitive.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #581108 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 560 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Here is a superb first in a projected two-volume study of the Union general and president. Serving as neither his subject's advocate nor his prosecutor, Arizona State University historian Simpson provides an eminently informed and finely balanced portrait of Ulysses S. Grant as man, husband, failed entrepreneur and shrewd, victorious general. Simpson (Let Us Have Peace: Ulysses S. Grant and the Politics of War and Reconstruction, 1861-1868) uses carefully excavated facts and anecdotes to reveal an individual far more complex than the caricature (drunken, barbarous in battle, corrupt when given opportunity) handed down to us by popular history. At the same time, Simpson does not gloss over Grant's shortcomings. Although a fan of the general's, Simpson is not in the business of writing apologetics, and therein lies his strength. Appropriately, Simpson dispenses with Grant's pre-Civil War life in the first 70 pages of his book, devoting the balance to his name-making and often controversial Civil War exploits. Most importantly, Simpson shows in Grant the vital trait he shares with every great warrior-leader before or since: a hatred of warfare. War, said Grant, "is at all times a sad and cruel business... and nothing but imperative duty could induce me to engage in its work or witness its horrors." History Book Cub main selection. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Ulysses S. Grant (Grant: A Biography), historian William McFeely portrayed the soldier-statesman-president as a liar, a battlefield butcher of men, and a racist. Sixteen years later, Geoffrey Perret's hagiographic work (Ulysses S. Grant: Soldier and President, LJ 7/97) cast Grant as an ethical, intelligent, and spiritually introspective man ill served by back-biting staff officers, incompetent field commanders, and self-aggrandizing political hacks. This balanced contribution from Simpson (The Reconstruction Presidents, LJ 6/15/98) offers a finely nuanced view of Grant as sometimes petty and vindictive, stubborn, partial to favorites, politically expedient, and willing to sacrifice principle in pursuit of results but nevertheless always the determined foe of slavery and Southern nationalism. The author dramatically traces his "triumph over adversity" theme through Grant's adolescence in Ohio, tenure at the Military Academy, tour of duty in the Mexican War, failed business ventures and exasperating domestic life, and grueling ascendancy to the pinnacle of the Union army and closes with his painful attempts to forestall Radical Republican legislation aimed at punishing the postwar South. The author's excellent afterword persuasively explains the complexities and seeming contradictions of his subject's character and genius. An auspicious beginning to Simpson's planned two-volume study; highly recommended for all public and academic libraries.
---John Carver Edwards, Univ. of Georgia Libs., Athens
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
The superb first installment in a planned two-volume biography of the greatest Northern general of the Civil Warand one of the most remarkable military figures of all time. Simpson (History/Arizona State Univ.; The Reconstruction Presidents, 1998) is an oft-published authority on the era of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Here he takes on the case of U.S. Grant, whose unlikely rise from West Pointtrained failed businessman to the pinnacle of military power is one of the most extraordinary success stories in American history. Appropriately enough, roughly 80 per cent of the volume concerns Grant's military career, from his service in the Mexican War through his triumph at Appomattox. But the distinctive value of Simpson's work, especially compared to William McFeely's prizewinning biography, is that he does not slight Grant's personal life, especially his fraught relationships with his father and slaveholding father-in-law and his marriage to Julia Dent Grant. Moreover, Simpson is unfailingly balanced and judicious in his assessments of military decisions, battles, and politics. While he is clearly partial to his subject, he does not shy away from Grant's tactical errors or the never-stilled rumors of his excessive drinking (for which Simpson finds insufficient evidence and many embellished stories). Why, given the existence of so many other studies about the man and his times, would anyone want to read this lengthy biography? Because it is skillfully written; because Grant's life is more fully realized in it than in previous one-volume studies; and because Simpson, who has benefited from decades of Civil War study, wears his wide-ranging scholarship lightly. Guaranteed to enlighten and please anyone who hasn't had enough of the Civil War and its central figures. (7 maps, not seen) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Grant the Human
The criticisms of this book are hard to fathom. Brooks Simpson's wonderful new biography of Ulysses S. Grant--one of the least-understood and most-maligned of the "Great Americans"--is full of Grant's humanity, his complexities, his enigmas, and his sensibilities. Far from white-washing Grant's drinking, Simpson points out that Grant was keenly aware that he was a classic alcoholic. That's not what was important; what was important is what Grant did about it, and how the public perceptions of him then, and largely now, have been wrong. And far from sketching a passionless, boring Grant, Simpson vividly portrays Grant's human side: his intense love for his wife and children; his struggles to measure up to the expectations of his father and his father-in-law; the hurt he felt over casualties; and the actual tears that came--which were seen and written about by many of his contemporaries--when a loss was just too much to take.

I enjoyed this book immensely precisely because it painted Grant as a person with all the weaknesses and frailties that accompany all of us. And yet Grant became great. The best part of the book is Simpson's concluding essay on exactly why that was so. I have concluded that, while Grant is not often included in the pantheon of American heroes, I think he would have preferred it that way. This is biography at its best--stripped of both glorification and gratuitous criticism. I am anxiously awaiting the second volume.

Finally - a balanced portrait
Mr. Simpson has written a meticulously researched and readable biography of a fascinating man. I am baffled by some of the lest enthused reviews appearing here as I found this book to be the finest military biography I have ever read (and I have read most of those written about figures of the Civil War).

I found I couldn't put this book down and I would recommend this book highly to anyone who wishes to actually feel as though you have talked about Grant with a lifelong friend of his.

Buy this book if you are even marginally interested in this time in our country's history but especially if you think you can't learn any more about US Grant.

Brilliant Narrative of Fascinating Man At War.
U.S. Grant is a difficult man for modern readers to understand. He was tenacious to the point of being dogged, a battler who saved some of the lives of his men by fighting and thereby losing others; a man of sensivitivy whose habits were the topic of great gossip and some truth.

This book reads easily, as a smooth story of a difficult man. This author captures some of the battles in a very clear fashion, specifically the Battle of the Wilderness. One comes away with an understanding of the strategy, the reality, the messiness and the role Grant played for better and worse.

By weaving the political realities with the battles, and leavening both with an understanding of how Grant's private life was impacted, this author comes closer to capturing what happened to this man than most military histories can ever do. But the book also sheds light on the military realities.

This is a good book. And the nuanced approach will lend itself to the forthcoming second volume -- about Grant's later life and Presidency. That should be an eye opener.