Afbeelding van de auteur.

Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885)

Auteur van The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

54+ Werken 4,046 Leden 44 Besprekingen Favoriet van 2 leden

Over de Auteur

Fotografie: Source: "Captains of the Civil War,"
by William Wood (New Haven, 1921)
(Project Gutenberg)

Werken van Ulysses S. Grant

The papers of Ulysses S. Grant (1971) 10 exemplaren
The Vicksburg Campaign (2013) 3 exemplaren
State of the Union Address (1869) 3 exemplaren
Grant's Civil War (2011) 3 exemplaren
Grant 1 exemplaar

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American Historical Documents (1910) — Medewerker — 756 exemplaren
The Civil War: The First Year Told By Those Who Lived It (2011) — Medewerker — 241 exemplaren
The Civil War: The Second Year Told By Those Who Lived It (2012) — Medewerker — 172 exemplaren
The Civil War: The Third Year Told by Those Who Lived It (2013) — Medewerker — 145 exemplaren
Meeting of Minds: First Series (1978) — Subject — 57 exemplaren
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Summer 1990 (1990) — Author "Every one has his superstitions. . . ." — 14 exemplaren
An Autobiography of America (1929) — Medewerker — 4 exemplaren

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For more reviews and bookish posts visit: https://www.ManOfLaBook.com

The Complete Personal Memoirs of General Ulysses S. Grant is an autobiography of the President, known for its openness and insights. Mr. Grant wrote this memoir at the behest of Mark Twain, who also published it originally.

I read several books about U.S. Grant, my favorite was the recently published Grant by Ron Chernow but I enjoyed the rest as well. On a LibraryThing thread, I was recommended this book, which I’ve heard about often but finally decided to take the plunge and read it.

Former President Grant wrote this book while dying and hoped the residuals would provide for his family. He was correct, the book proved to be an enormous success, generating $450,000 ($13.5 million in 2023) to his family, and is still in print to this day. Maybe knowing he was on death’s door allowed Mr. Grant to be honest and open.

General Grant liked to show, not tell, what a tough guy he is, and he’s not afraid to toot his own horn. He is not one for pageantry, preferring a dusty private’s uniform to a fancy general one. He also doesn’t mince words about the Confederacy (“traitors” and “white trash”), or about the United State’s optimistic and progressive ideology. In this biography, he portrays himself as the “strong silent type” which we know from movies, and the biographies I read certainly agree.

I especially enjoyed reading about his relationship with General Sherman and Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Grant writes in direct and precise language, with a clear narrative.

It made me happy to see that Grant’s legacy is reevaluated and the misinformation about him being a drunk is being debunked. He was an alcoholic but had a tremendous support system from his wife and aide-de-camp which kept him straight.
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ZoharLaor | 1 andere bespreking | Dec 26, 2023 |
This is a new edition of Grant’s memoir, one of the best memoirs of the Civil War and probably the best literary production by any president. It is an attractive book with new maps and illustrations, but many of the maps in the original edition have been removed, and you will almost certainly need to read this with an atlas (I used Craig Symond’s A Battlefield Atlas of the Civil War). The editor’s notes are extensive and one must sometimes read the work as if Grant’s text and the notes are two parallel books. Many of the notes are very helpful, e.g. what others had to say about Grant during the times that he covers so briefly - such as his two years in Detroit, and stories about Grant that he or others had told, but which he did not include in his memoir. In one such note, Samet tells us that Grant once described a time when he was under the command of John Frémont,

[Frémont] sat in a room in full uniform, with his maps before him. When you went in, he would point out one line or another in a mysterious manner, never asking you to take a seat. You left without the least idea of what he meant or what he wanted you to do.

Since the editor’s theme is examination of the memoir as a literary, not an historical work, her notes sometimes go far afield. And, while reading Grant’s memoir, I was not always that interested in seeing notes with long quotations from Catch-22, the Odyssey, or Shakespeare. On the other hand, there were instances where Grant, in his usual fashion, did not describe certain details of battle, and the editor has found other historical accounts, e.g. from the writings of ancient Rome, that correspond closely to the Civil War battle.
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markm2315 | Jul 1, 2023 |
I really appreciated this book. Grant goes through all his Civil War battles with commentary
 
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Kate.Koeze | 1 andere bespreking | Apr 15, 2022 |
Grant's biographers mention his devotion to his wife. The letters contained in this short volume affirm his affection by his constant expressions of longing and love in her absence. If ever a relationship was put to the test by long periods of separation this was one. Grant and Julia Dent were engaged for four years in the face of his distance through military postings in various places, including serving three years in Mexico during the Mexican War. Moreover, Julia's family was opposed to the union to the degree of boycotting the ceremony. Even after marriage, Grant and Julia were often separated during his postings in Oregon and other places, clearly a strain on both.

Grant's descriptions of action in Mexico and and his campaigns are frank and vivid and add to our understanding of his appraisal of the effects of war. He often named the casualties in his letters. He decried the mistreatment of Mexicans by rogue soldiers and expresses understanding of the hardships inflicted on Southern civilians in the wake of war. His Civil War letters show his confidence (without arrogance or boasting) in his leadership and a quiet sense that his armies would ultimately prevail.

I took particular note of several remarks in his letters to Julia about General Henry Halleck. Some time ago, I wrote a paper on Halleck (a native of our small village in upstate New York). The theme of the paper was to redeem Halleck's reputation from the harsh treatment he has received from most historians. In one section, I analyzed the criticisms of Halleck's interactions with Grant after his victory at Forts Henry and Donelson. I offered alternative mitigating views on Halleck's arrest of Grant after Donelson and whether, or to what extent, Halleck promoted the rumors of Grant's drinking. There are logical explanations that I think offset the criticism of many historians. Perhaps most telling in this regard are Grant's mentions of Halleck in his private letters to his wife. He clearly had great respect for Gen. Halleck. In his letter of February 24, 1862 Grant says that of the right conduct of the encounters at the forts, "Gen. Halleck is clearly the same way of thinking and with his clear head I think {a Congressional committee] will have nothing to enquire about." After the rumors in the press about Grant's drinking, he thinks this is just the product of jealousy of others, not Halleck. "This {the rumor} is very far from applying however, I think to our Chief, Halleck, who I look upon as one of the greatest men of the age." Surely, if Grant thought he was being slandered by his superior, he would have said so in a private letter to his wife.

Grant's final letter from Mt. McGregor in Wilton, NY to his wife when at the last stages of his disease is moving.

With so much in print about Grant, including his marvelous memoirs. can this brief volume of private letters this give us new insight into the man? Decidedly so. (
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Gemarkeerd
stevesmits | Dec 15, 2021 |

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Werken
54
Ook door
9
Leden
4,046
Populariteit
#6,220
Waardering
4.2
Besprekingen
44
ISBNs
180
Talen
4
Favoriet
2

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