Ulysses S. Grant : The Unlikely Hero (Eminent Lives)

Rating:
Summary: A compact, concise gem reveals Grant
Review: Michael Korda's biography of Ulysses S. Grant is remarkably spare, a mere 158 pages in a compact 6 x 9 page format no less.

But in those few pages, Korda paints a picture of greatness. Perhaps it is to the lasting credit of Grant that his life could be painted in broad strokes with only selected details.

Grant was a youth with few outstanding qualities aside from horsemanship. A mediocre student, he attends West Point, fights in the war with Mexico and is essentially cashiered from the Army.

He spends years in obscurity until the Civil War where his true and natural calling as a leader of men and great armies becomes evident.

He becomes President not so much from poiitical ambition, but from a desire for a job. Korda makes it clear that while not one of the very greatest Presidents, Grant deserves more credit than he has gotten.

Grant comes across as a great man, a great American, from a time when natural genius could flourish, rather than be buried in our credential happy society. A very worthwhile read.

Jerry

Rating:
Summary: A Nice Simple Account of the Life of U.S. Grant
Review: At first glance, Michael Korda ("Queenie", "Horse People", "Man to Man") seems to be a very unlikely writer to tackle the life of U.S. Grant. But he does so, and quite admirably.

No, this isn't a full biography ala McFeely, or Geoff Perrett, or Jean Edward Smith. But for the Civil War novice, or someone interested in a small yet mighty biography of the Union General and U.S. President, Korda's book is chock full of facts, vignettes, and being the writer that he is, depicting a life full of character, action and pathos. Yet also a simple, honest life of a great American.

The other reviewers have pretty much captured the essence of what Korda has written - a biography that showed Grant to be the great military hero he was - even greater than his adversary, Robert E. Lee. But also a capable and decent President despite the scandals that plagued his administration and the ultimate failure of Reconstruction.

The only reason that I didn't give it a fifth star is due to the brevity of the volume, plus the fact that Korda really doesn't cover any ground already covered by aforementioned writers. But for what he does in his re-telling of Grant's story, he captures the imagination and the interest of the reader. And isn't that what counts???

Rating:
Summary: Fine, Succinct Look at Grant's Military Career, but...
Review: I was fortunate to have received an uncorrected proof of this book, a splendid little gem of a biography emphasizing Grant's strengths as an important American leader. Korda excels in chronicling how Grant became an extraordinary military commander during the Civil War, noting Grant's tenacious, ferocious view of warfare, and how it garnered success in virtually every battle he waged against Confederate forces. He may be correct in noting that Grant was the only Union general who shared Lincoln's assessment that the sole means of winning the war against the Confederacy was by bringing it to the enemy; in other words, Grant was the first successful practitioner of modern total warfare (His loyal subordinate Sherman was the second, most notably his famous - or infamous - "march to the sea" which included the burning of Atlanta by Federal troops.). Korda also strongly notes Grant's innocence amidst the scandals which tarnished his two terms as President of the United States; Grant was too trusting and loyal to his friends, even when they took advantage of him. However, I am not sure whether Korda can genuinely compare and contrast Grant's style of warfare with either Eisenhower's (though Korda does make a compelling comparison between Grant and Eisenhower) or Franks' (the initial commander of the ongoing Iraqi campaign) styles, since his simple comparisons do not take into account advances in strategy and tactics made since the Civil War. However, I strongly commend Korda's brief, yet noble, attempt in trying to restore much of Grant's reputation as a great American worthy of the same degree of admiration as the Founding Fathers or Lincoln (Indeed, during Grant's worldwide tour around the globe in the late 1870's, many foreigners were intrigued with his classic "rags-to-riches" tale of success as something that was quintessentially American.); here, I think, he has succeeded most admirably.

Rating:
Summary: Not the greatest bio
Review: I was given the uncorrected proof of this book to read.
It's an easy read and one can get through it in a day.
Some of the info is not surprising and others are general mistakes.
Some of his comparisons of Grant to present figures is interesting and some are not at all understandable.
Sometimes you wonder where Mr. Korda is coming from with his information.
Some of the things he has Grant doing while President seems to be added to the story to shock people.
Careful study can find the action he gave Grant was actually done by Lincoln which he mentions briefly.
His notations of Grant being innocent of alot of the corruption in his administration is true.
Grant had a great admirable quality which was loyalty.
But it was loyalty to a fault. What I mean by this is, if you were his friend, you could do no wrong. He was blinded by the friendship and could not believe that a friend or family member could be corrupt or try to stab him in the back.
His statements of Grant hating Custer during the war is not true as well.
Custer was one of his best cavalry commanders who won victories for him.
He didn't hate Custer for taking the surrender table from the McClean home after the surrender because General Sheridan bought the table from McClean and gave it to Custer as a gift to Mrs. Custer.
Grant knew this and wasn't upset over a legit purchase.
He distain for Custer didn't come until 1875 when Custer testified against the Indian Ring which also named Grant's corrupt friends and family, his brother Orville, of scamming the soldiers, civilians, and Indians who did business with post sutlers.
If tyou wish to read the best book on Grant, purchase his own autobiography.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Disappointment
Review: This book depressed me. Korda (or, more likely, his flunkies) put together a truly slap-dash book, which reads like he spent a brief lunch-break "researching" this work, and another one in writing it. Judging by his footnotes, Korda relied on a couple of Internet sites and two books for his information: William McFeely's 1981 biography, a, to put it mildly, controversial piece of work, and W.E. Woodward's notorious "Meet General Grant," now widely--and correctly--regarded as the worst, most misleading biography about Ulysses S. Grant ever written. (Even more strangely, Korda explains his curious taste in source material by declaring that "Writing in 1928, Woodward was closer to Grant's time..." Going by that logic, I assume that Mr. Korda believes that "Birth of a Nation" is the definitive film about 19th-century America.)

I don't know what else to say at this point, other than that I am truly tired of books like this. I am tired of "pop" history works which are shallow, uninteresting, repetitive, strewn with glaringly silly inaccuracies, and aimed at the lowest common denominator. I am tired of authors who do only the most casual research and then have the nerve to consider themselves worthy of adding to the body of knowledge about a historical figure. I am tired of publishing houses who obviously consider concepts like originality, insight, and effort to be four-letter words. This is a trend that seems to be getting worse, not better, in recent years. And the general dumbing-down of the world continues apace.

Rating:
Summary: A Waste of My Time
Review: This is one of the weakest Presidential biographies I have ever encountered. It reads, at times, like a high school or college research paper, loaded with personal opinion from the author when it is facts I was seeking. Constant references comparing Grant to Napolean, Ike, FDR, and various 20th century leaders is annoying. I noticed two "between the lines" references comparing the current US president disfavorably with Grant. One example of the references that drove me crazy;(page 121) "The line the Clinton people threw at George Bush pere in the 1992 election campaign might have been aimed with equal effect at Grant: "It's the economy, stupid."" George Bush "pere"? Good thing I had high school french.

The only redeeming quality is that the book is short, and if you wanted a quick read on President Grant this is the one. However, be prepared to experience a book chock full of cute and annoying associations.

Rating:
Summary: "Short but sweet" ... a thoroughly enjoyable read
Review: Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), says Michael Korda, was an "unlikely hero."

He was, writes Korda, "thin-skinned, sensitive, and burdened with the inferiority complex of a boy who had been brought up by harsh and distant parents, made fun of at school, been passed over for promotion in the army, failed at every attempt to make money or improve his situation, and eventually settled into life as a clerk in his father's store and the town drunk until the Civil War came along and saved him."

The author portrays Grant as one of the greatest, perhaps the greatest, of American military leaders. And while Grant was one of our weaker presidents, says Korda, he succeeded in keeping the nation at peace during troubled times.

The book discusses Grant's years at West Point, his service in the Mexican War, his marriage to Julia Dent, and the birth of their four children: Frederick, Ulysses Junior, Nellie, and Jesse.

Grant was born on April 27, 1822, in Point Pleasant, Ohio. In May 1860, after the dismal failure of numerous business enterprises, he moved to Galena, Illinois, and accepted a clerkship in his father's leather store. He died on July 23, 1885, at Mt. McGregor, New York, only a week or so before completing his monumental Memoirs.

Of course, the main reason we are still fascinated with Grant today is because of his military genius in the horrific conflict of the Civil War. Korda points out that nearly 625,000 Americans were killed in the Civil War, compared to 400,000 in World War II and 58,000 in Vietnam.

Korda follows Grant from Fort Henry (on the Tennessee River), Fort Donelson (on the Cumberland River), Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing), Vicksburg, Chattanooga (Missionary Ridge), Cold Harbor, the siege of Petersburg, and his pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia to Appomattox Court House, the venue of Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender.

Grant saw clearly (as did Lincoln) that the only way to win the war was to keep pounding away relentlessly and doggedly at the enemy. On Feb. 16, 1862, he sent a stern missive to Gen. S. B. Buckner, commander of Fort Donelson (near Dover, Tennessee): "No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works."

On May 11, 1864, in "the Wilderness" near Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, Grant sent a dispatch to Washington: "I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer."

And on Aug. 1, 1864, writing from City Point, Virginia, Grant sent this dispatch to Gen. Henry W. Halleck: "Wherever the enemy goes let our troops go also."

Although Grant's presidency was embroiled in scandal, Korda insists that Grant was honest to a fault, but too naive and trusting of others. Grant emerges as a decent, honorable, and likable man. And Korda's concise biography of Grant should appeal even to those who are not Civil War buffs.

A final point should be emphasized. Korda's assessment of Grant is constantly compared to the leaders of World War II and to the present war in the Middle East ("Operation Iraqi Freedom"). The latter comparison is inferred rather than explicit, but Korda's meaning is unmistakable.

Grant left some important words of wisdom for us today, imploring us to resist the arrogant encroachments of a theocratic fundamentalism: "Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private school, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and the state forever separate."

Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Hero launches the Eminent Lives Series from HarperCollins. Forthcoming volumes include studies of Alexander the Great, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexis de Tocqueville, William Shakespeare, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Sigmund Freud.

Roy E. Perry of Nolensville ([e-mail]) is an advertising copywriter at a Nashville publishing house.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael Korda, who served in the British armed forces, is editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster and the author of Charmed Lives, Another Life, Horse People, and several best-selling novels. He lives with his wife, Margaret, in upstate New York.