There are many good books on Grant. I wholeheartedly agree with the annotated memoirs and Brooks Simpson’s book. The other Brooks Simpson biography (USG -Triumph Over Adversity. 1822-1865) is also excellent. The Ron Chernow book is informative but entirely too much musing about alcohol.
I agree re: the Chernow book. Overall, I don't have a major problem with it. I didn't include it because Chernow has been the beneficiary of some fine scholarship in recent years and that is what I wanted to highlight. Thanks for the comment.
A book that I bought long ago, and enjoyed much, is "US Grant and the American Military Tradition," by Bruce Catton. It's old (early 50s), so it isn't the most up-to-date scholarship, but it is less than 200 pages and written in Catton's superb prose. Like Joan Waugh's book---and I heartily second that recommendation---you come out of reading it with a very good sense of who Grant was.
I’ve read Grant’s memoirs, but not an annotated edition. Grant set a high bar for memoirs. I’d like to get this annotated edition. Waugh’s biography is on my wishlist.
I would add Edwina Campbell's Citizen of a Wider Commonwealth, about Grant's post presidential diplomacy. This helped me appreciate the way in which Grant in particular and the Reconstruction Republican presidents in general reconceived America's role in the world. Also, in many ways Grant was quite prescient about what was happening in Asia and where that was heading. As with so much of Grant, one gets a sense of a better world that could have been.
Thanks for the reference. I wasn't aware of Campbell's book. Of course, there is also John Russell Young's account of Grant's world tour, which I highly recommend.
Thanks, Kevin!
There are many good books on Grant. I wholeheartedly agree with the annotated memoirs and Brooks Simpson’s book. The other Brooks Simpson biography (USG -Triumph Over Adversity. 1822-1865) is also excellent. The Ron Chernow book is informative but entirely too much musing about alcohol.
I agree re: the Chernow book. Overall, I don't have a major problem with it. I didn't include it because Chernow has been the beneficiary of some fine scholarship in recent years and that is what I wanted to highlight. Thanks for the comment.
A book that I bought long ago, and enjoyed much, is "US Grant and the American Military Tradition," by Bruce Catton. It's old (early 50s), so it isn't the most up-to-date scholarship, but it is less than 200 pages and written in Catton's superb prose. Like Joan Waugh's book---and I heartily second that recommendation---you come out of reading it with a very good sense of who Grant was.
Thanks for the reference, Jim.
I've read the first three of these and learned much from them. I've also read Julia Grant's memoirs, which are also interesting.
Thanks for referencing Julia Grant's memoir. I've never read it.
I have read this one too. It's very interesting and entertaining. Her views on slavery are, how shall we say, not enlightened.
I’ve read Grant’s memoirs, but not an annotated edition. Grant set a high bar for memoirs. I’d like to get this annotated edition. Waugh’s biography is on my wishlist.
You won't be disappointed.
I would add Edwina Campbell's Citizen of a Wider Commonwealth, about Grant's post presidential diplomacy. This helped me appreciate the way in which Grant in particular and the Reconstruction Republican presidents in general reconceived America's role in the world. Also, in many ways Grant was quite prescient about what was happening in Asia and where that was heading. As with so much of Grant, one gets a sense of a better world that could have been.
Thanks for the reference. I wasn't aware of Campbell's book. Of course, there is also John Russell Young's account of Grant's world tour, which I highly recommend.
https://www.abebooks.com/9780801869501/Around-World-General-Grant-Young-0801869501/plp
I am planning to begin reading that today. But Campbell's book is fantastic.
Thank you for the recommendation on Grant’s memoirs. Added it to my “Buy This Next” list.
You won't regret it.