American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant

This is an important addition to the recent body of work that aims to restore the reputation of Ulysses S. Grant, who was unjustly denigrated for the better part of a century. White gives us insight into the character of the man through the detailed anecdotes about his life: the young Captain, still in his twenties, caring for hundreds of cholera-stricken passengers in a central American jungle, the very young lieutenant pressed to the side of a running horse as he races through Mexican gunfire. The Grant who emerges in this book is an honest and fair-minded man with a sly sense of humour. White brings out the many contradictions in Grant: a sensitive man who hated blood sports, he was the Union general capable of waging the aggressive war necessary to defeat the Confederacy.

Great story.historyofthecivilwargeneralwhowentontobecometheeighteenthpresidentoftheunitedstatesfortwoterms.

Great history book from yesterday that has major implications today for civil rights ,racism and depth of deep seated systemetic issues and politics of pros and cons stemming from 400 years of slavery and a brutal civil war and long failed history to fulfill goals towards equality and full civil rights for all peoples

American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. GrantThis happen to be another book recommended to me via Amazon which I am pleased to report is well worth reading. I had been meaning to read a book about Grant so the timing was just right. What I discovered was a much more complex individual than I had been lead to believe via general history one might receive via formal education. My idea had been that he was a General that used his military as an unlimited resource, a man that had a terrible drinking problem throughout his life and a Presidency that was fraught with fraud and scandal. Mr. White clearly painted a picture of an individual that was so much more and nothing like he has been portrayed.I do tend to be fascinated by Grant's rise to power after being a retired Army Captain (retiring under suspicious circumstances which may have involved drinking) to failing as a farmer, lumber man and briefly working for his younger brother in the family tannery, to President of the United States. His wife's family was well do do in St. Louis with ownership of many slaves of which the Grants came to own three as a gift from his wife's father! Grant entered the war as a recruiter and a Brevet Captain. He showed such an initiative however he rapidly advanced to General and then Lt. General reporting to Lincoln. If one wanted to learn how to be a leader, this book carefully helps one arrive at this learning by reading how he dealt with conflict. I would have respected this gentleman for many reasons. His ability to change his mind as facts were presented which seems to be missing in leadership today, is certainly a mark of a great leader. The skill of listening to others prior to making a decision, yet never showing his cards until all sides were heard. And most importantly, he never gave up but yet continued to seek solutions. He was totally ambivalent to the slavery discussion early on and in fact never really gave that as a reason for going to war. Later he became a strong abolitionist and even earned high praise for his reconstruction and civil rights leadership although the public sentiment was mostly otherwise. African American leaders of the time did not believe Lincoln was a trusted friend; however Fredric Douglas pointed out they had no greater friend than Grant. Grant also knew the war could not be won from a defensive position resulting in always attacking with controversial massive loss of life from his own troops. And for me of course; he had a noted reputation for his horsemanship. The only reference I read of him disciplining his men is when he had a man physically and harshly reprimanded for beating a horse. After his Presidency, he took a world tour and his horsemanship almost always came up in discussion. Horse racing was the very popular elitist sport of England but he never accepted invitations to attend because he believed horse racing was cruel.Yes there was scandal while he was President but there was scandal, bribery treachery all over our union after the war. However, none of the scandal was of his doing or as a lack of leadership. Our country was vastly divided after the war and we will never know how Lincoln might have handled matters. But what we do know is that Grant gave Lincoln a great deal of credit for setting examples for him which resulted in the right leadership from Grant at the right time in history. Reconstruction was not popular and President Grant didn't seem to ever travel the most popular roads, so it seems history has thrown somewhat of a cloud over his Presidency. Mr. White has helped remove that cloud and I would recommend any history lover to read this book. It is not a quick read, but I read it quickly because the author captured my interest from the very start. For me when the war ended in the book I assumed my interest would wan, but that was far from the case. I am still captured by the thought of former President Grant giving up all his most valued possessions of military history to pay a debt of which the debtor didn't even care if he was paid back. He was a fascinating character in our history and this was a fascinating book for me.

Prompt and with the bonus of having American cut pages.very well don.