Ulysses S. Grant: Soldier & President

Geoffrey Perret's previous work, "A Country Made By War," which is a general military history of the United States, gives him the background to put the military career of Grant in perspective. He worked closely with the editor of Grant's papers to acquire the background to write this biography. His short chapters don't go into great details on individual battles, but capture well the development of Grant's personality, generalship, and presidency. J.F.C. Fuller's "Grant and Lee" and "The Generalship of Ulysses S. Grant" go into greater detail in analyzing the military strategy, strengths and weaknesses, of Grant's command both in the Western and Eastern theaters. But Perret's book is well worth reading. He captures the spirit of Grant well.

This is one of the very best biographies that I have ever read. In addition to being written in a lyrical prose, it offers a much needed corrective to the withering, and unfair, historical portrait that Grant has been stuck with. Let's face it, here's what most of us know about Grant: he didn't do much at West Point, was a failure in business, drank his way through the Civil War, winning only because he was willing to kill his own soldiers, oversaw one of the most corrupt Presidential administrations ever and died. The most important previous biography, William McFeely's Pulitzer Prizewinning Grant (1981), took a sufficiently negative view of Grant that it did little to change, and even reinforced, these received truths. Like almost all misrepresentations in History, there are kernels of truth in the portrait, but it leaves out much and Perret is able to convincingly challenge much of the rest of it. Missing from that portrayal are Grant's fundamental decency as a man, his exemplary service in the Mexican War, his genuine strategic insight and at times nearly prophetic foresight (as when he offered to have a Cabinet member put his personal wealth in a blind trust), and his authorship of perhaps the best book written by a U. S. President (only Teddy Roosevelt can really challenge for the title), one of the great books of the 19th Century, his Personal Memoirs. Perret gives each of these the full treatment that it deserves and Grant's exceptional character and his control over his emotions and ego run like a leit motif throughout the book. Perhaps more importantly, Perret takes on each of the negative characterizations that has accrued to Grant's reputation over the years. Grant did perform indifferently at the Military Academy, but Perret points out that simply attending college (and West Point was one of the best in the world) put Grant in the educated elite of his time. Moreover, besides being an exceptional and much envied horseman, Grant performed well in classes that interested him and went on to study military history and tactics for the rest of his life, developing a really fine analytical mind on military matters. Grant did not do well in business, but he was scrupulously honest and as he first demonstrated as a quartermaster in the Mexican War, he was capable, even gifted, at managing materiel. Later when he was running the entire Union Army, he did so professionally and even brilliantly. It's hard to see how he can be faulted so heavily for bad luck running small businesses and given so little credit for managing what must have been one of the largest enterprises in human history up until that time. Grant did drink, but there is no evidence that it ever effected the performance of his duties. Also, he drank only when he was lonely. Any time that his wife was in the vicinity he was a virtual teetotaler. As to the manner in which he won the war, it seems increasingly possible to me that there were only three men on Earth who g

This is an excellent work and so easy to read and the flow is wonderful. The image we have been led to believe is more accurate here and clear. I can see that famous people endure the attacks but can survive. This is a new view of the US Grant that I have read about and the work is balanced and applies to the current war stategy that we know in the WWII era. Loved the book and so well written I can't wait to get the book on Eisenhower who must have learned a lot from Grant.

I have had an interest in Grant for many years and have consumed many books on the subject, but unlike several other reviewers who also make this claim, I heartily enjoyed Perret's book. Yes, I agree that Catton's works were superior, but that does not detract from this book. Certainly it is possible to disagree with the author's conclusions regarding Grant's psychology (I am suspicious of psychoanalyzing history in almost every form)yet find the book's important points acceptable. In its judiciousness and understanding of Grant's military abilities it is vastly superior to McFeely's treatment. It is not quite as adoring as Catton's work and in some places, such as the discussion of the general's drinking, that is a good thing. It surpasses more cursory treatments which have received attention lately (e.g. Buell's "Warrior Generals") which in many cases serve only to add to misunderstanding by taking quotations and anecdotes out of context. I found none of the factual errors alluded to by other reviewers. All in all, an excellent and very readable book.

This is a good book. It is a much more fair treatment of Grant than the relatively recent McFeely biography. It does a good job of showing Grant's strengths and weaknesses. While not a Civil War specialist, author Perret is still a noteworthy military historian who offers a valuable perspective of Grant's strategy and character.