Editors Reads Verdict
Chernow's Grant is a monumental rehabilitation of a misunderstood figure — essential reading for anyone interested in the Civil War, Reconstruction, or the complexity of great men who are both more and less than their reputations suggest.
What We Loved
- The most comprehensive and sympathetic rehabilitation of Grant since his own memoirs
- The Civil War generalship sections are among the finest military history writing available
- Chernow's treatment of Reconstruction-era racial politics is eye-opening
- Grant emerges as a genuinely admirable figure in ways the standard historical portrait doesn't allow
Minor Drawbacks
- At 1074 pages, the commitment is substantial — some sections move slowly
- Chernow's sympathy for Grant occasionally borders on hagiography
- Non-specialists may find some of the political detail of the presidency sections dense
Key Takeaways
- → Grant's reputation was destroyed by a Lost Cause narrative that served Confederate mythologising
- → His presidency's commitment to protecting Black civil rights during Reconstruction was genuine and courageous
- → The corruption scandals of his administration involved subordinates, not Grant himself
- → Grant's personal memoir, written while dying of cancer, is one of the greatest in American literature
- → Military genius and personal failure can coexist — Grant was both a great general and a failed businessman
| Author | Ron Chernow |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Penguin Press |
| Pages | 1074 |
| Published | October 10, 2017 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Biography, History |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Best For | Readers of American history and biography — particularly those interested in the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the rehabilitation of historical reputations. |
The Most Misunderstood American
Ulysses S. Grant has spent over a century in the historical basement. His presidency is listed among the worst by historians; his personal reputation is coloured by alcoholism and business failure; his military genius has been attributed to luck or to overwhelming resources. Ron Chernow’s Grant — a 1074-page act of historical rehabilitation — argues that virtually all of this is wrong.
The corruption of Grant’s presidency involved men around him, not Grant himself. His alcoholism was real but manageable, and has been wildly exaggerated by people who wanted to diminish him. His military record was the product of genuine tactical and strategic genius applied in conditions of extraordinary difficulty. And his presidency’s commitment to protecting the rights of formerly enslaved Black Americans — which was ultimately defeated by violence and Northern exhaustion — was one of the most principled and courageous political stands of the nineteenth century.
The Civil War General
The Civil War sections of this biography are extraordinary military history. Chernow traces Grant’s development from a failed businessman to the general who, alone among Union commanders, understood how to fight a war of attrition against a determined opponent. The Vicksburg campaign — Grant’s masterwork — is rendered with the clarity of someone who has studied it for years.
The relationship with Sherman, the friction with the political class in Washington, and the final Overland Campaign that ended the war are all handled with precision and drama.
Reconstruction’s Champion
The most important contribution of Chernow’s biography may be its treatment of Grant’s presidency. Grant used federal power aggressively — including military force — to suppress the Ku Klux Klan and protect Black voting rights in the South. He largely succeeded until political will in the North collapsed. That history has been systematically obscured by the same Lost Cause mythology that diminished his generalship.
Our rating: 4.5/5 — A monumental rehabilitation: Chernow restores one of America’s most important figures to his rightful historical place.
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