Author: Ulysses Simpson Grant
Publisher: New York, C. L. Webster & Company
ISBN:
Category : Generals
Languages : en
Pages : 606
Book Description
Faced with failing health and financial ruin, the Civil War's greatest general and former president wrote his personal memoirs to secure his family's future - and won himself a unique place in American letters. Devoted almost entirely to his life as a soldier, Grant's Memoirs traces the trajectory of his extraordinary career - from West Point cadet to general-in-chief of all Union armies. For their directness and clarity, his writings on war are without rival in American literature, and his autobiography deserves a place among the very best in the genre.
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant ...
Author: Ulysses Simpson Grant
Publisher: New York, C. L. Webster & Company
ISBN:
Category : Generals
Languages : en
Pages : 606
Book Description
Faced with failing health and financial ruin, the Civil War's greatest general and former president wrote his personal memoirs to secure his family's future - and won himself a unique place in American letters. Devoted almost entirely to his life as a soldier, Grant's Memoirs traces the trajectory of his extraordinary career - from West Point cadet to general-in-chief of all Union armies. For their directness and clarity, his writings on war are without rival in American literature, and his autobiography deserves a place among the very best in the genre.
Publisher: New York, C. L. Webster & Company
ISBN:
Category : Generals
Languages : en
Pages : 606
Book Description
Faced with failing health and financial ruin, the Civil War's greatest general and former president wrote his personal memoirs to secure his family's future - and won himself a unique place in American letters. Devoted almost entirely to his life as a soldier, Grant's Memoirs traces the trajectory of his extraordinary career - from West Point cadet to general-in-chief of all Union armies. For their directness and clarity, his writings on war are without rival in American literature, and his autobiography deserves a place among the very best in the genre.
Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant
Author: Ulysses Simpson Grant
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dummies (Bookselling)
Languages : en
Pages : 672
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dummies (Bookselling)
Languages : en
Pages : 672
Book Description
The Annotated Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (The Annotated Books)
Author: Ulysses S. Grant
Publisher: Liveright Publishing
ISBN: 1631492454
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 997
Book Description
With kaleidoscopic, trenchant, path-breaking insights, Elizabeth D. Samet has produced the most ambitious edition of Ulysses Grant’s Memoirs yet published. One hundred and thirty-three years after its 1885 publication by Mark Twain, Elizabeth Samet has annotated this lavish edition of Grant’s landmark memoir, and expands the Civil War backdrop against which this monumental American life is typically read. No previous edition combines such a sweep of historical and cultural contexts with the literary authority that Samet, an English professor obsessed with Grant for decades, brings to the table. Whether exploring novels Grant read at West Point or presenting majestic images culled from archives, Samet curates a richly annotated, highly collectible edition that will fascinate Civil War buffs. The edition also breaks new ground in its attack on the “Lost Cause” revisionism that still distorts our national conversation about the legacy of the Civil War. Never has Grant’s transformation from tanner’s son to military leader been more insightfully and passionately explained than in this timely edition, appearing on the 150th anniversary of Grant’s 1868 presidential election.
Publisher: Liveright Publishing
ISBN: 1631492454
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 997
Book Description
With kaleidoscopic, trenchant, path-breaking insights, Elizabeth D. Samet has produced the most ambitious edition of Ulysses Grant’s Memoirs yet published. One hundred and thirty-three years after its 1885 publication by Mark Twain, Elizabeth Samet has annotated this lavish edition of Grant’s landmark memoir, and expands the Civil War backdrop against which this monumental American life is typically read. No previous edition combines such a sweep of historical and cultural contexts with the literary authority that Samet, an English professor obsessed with Grant for decades, brings to the table. Whether exploring novels Grant read at West Point or presenting majestic images culled from archives, Samet curates a richly annotated, highly collectible edition that will fascinate Civil War buffs. The edition also breaks new ground in its attack on the “Lost Cause” revisionism that still distorts our national conversation about the legacy of the Civil War. Never has Grant’s transformation from tanner’s son to military leader been more insightfully and passionately explained than in this timely edition, appearing on the 150th anniversary of Grant’s 1868 presidential election.
Grant Under Fire
Author: Joseph Rose
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781943177004
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 816
Book Description
Grant Under Fire comprehensively dissects the military career of Ulysses S. Grant. Rigorously based on a wealth of primary sources--many not cited before--the book resolves scores of controversies, such as his drunken partying with the enemy on flag-of-truce boats out of Cairo, dishonestly blaming Lew Wallace for the march to Shiloh, pretending that he had the ultimate plan to pass Vicksburg all along, stealing the credit for the charge up Missionary Ridge, and leaving wounded men to suffer and die between the lines at Cold Harbor.Despite his sterling reputation as an officer and a gentleman, he suffered the biggest surprise of the American Civil War, committed the worst official act of anti-Semitism on this nation's soil, and came closest of all Union generals to losing Washington. Defenders rank his generalship above Robert E. Lee's, but to do so, they must ignore his simplistic, aggressive strategies that led to a war of attrition and the amateurish tactics of impetuous, frontal assaults, all along the line and against fortified positions.Grant Under Fire overturns the familiar renditions by detailing Grant's corruption at Cairo, his occupation of Paducah under orders, his incapacity in the Mississippi Delta, and the army's non-triumphal exit from the Wilderness, as well as debunking a host of other oft-told tales and myths.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781943177004
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 816
Book Description
Grant Under Fire comprehensively dissects the military career of Ulysses S. Grant. Rigorously based on a wealth of primary sources--many not cited before--the book resolves scores of controversies, such as his drunken partying with the enemy on flag-of-truce boats out of Cairo, dishonestly blaming Lew Wallace for the march to Shiloh, pretending that he had the ultimate plan to pass Vicksburg all along, stealing the credit for the charge up Missionary Ridge, and leaving wounded men to suffer and die between the lines at Cold Harbor.Despite his sterling reputation as an officer and a gentleman, he suffered the biggest surprise of the American Civil War, committed the worst official act of anti-Semitism on this nation's soil, and came closest of all Union generals to losing Washington. Defenders rank his generalship above Robert E. Lee's, but to do so, they must ignore his simplistic, aggressive strategies that led to a war of attrition and the amateurish tactics of impetuous, frontal assaults, all along the line and against fortified positions.Grant Under Fire overturns the familiar renditions by detailing Grant's corruption at Cairo, his occupation of Paducah under orders, his incapacity in the Mississippi Delta, and the army's non-triumphal exit from the Wilderness, as well as debunking a host of other oft-told tales and myths.
Grant and Sherman
Author: William Tecumseh Sherman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780940450691
Category : Generals
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
The two greatest firsthand accounts of the Civil War together in a boxed collector's edition. The extraordinary memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman evoke the Civil War with a vividness unparalleled in American writing. Annotated by distinguished historians and filled with detailed maps, battle plans, and facsimiles reproduced from the original editions, these lavish volumes offer a unique vantage on the most terrible, moving, and inexhaustibly fascinating event in American history.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780940450691
Category : Generals
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
The two greatest firsthand accounts of the Civil War together in a boxed collector's edition. The extraordinary memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman evoke the Civil War with a vividness unparalleled in American writing. Annotated by distinguished historians and filled with detailed maps, battle plans, and facsimiles reproduced from the original editions, these lavish volumes offer a unique vantage on the most terrible, moving, and inexhaustibly fascinating event in American history.
My Dearest Julia: The Wartime Letters of Ulysses S. Grant to His Wife
Author: Ulysses S. Grant
Publisher: Library of America
ISBN: 1598535900
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 198
Book Description
The Civil War’s greatest general as you’ve never seen him before: A revealing collection of letters written by Ulysses S. Grant to his wife, Julia, perfect for American history buffs. Grant’s intimate reflections on the War in Mexico and the Civil War “[show] his remarkable evolution from an insecure young soldier to a capable, self-confident general” (Ron Chernow). Ulysses S. Grant is justly celebrated as the author of one of the finest military autobiographies ever written, yet many readers of his Personal Memoirs are unaware that during his army years Grant wrote hundreds of intimate and revealing letters to his wife, Julia Dent Grant. Presented with an introduction by acclaimed biographer Ron Chernow, My Dearest Julia collects more than eighty of these letters, beginning with their engagement in 1844 and ending with the Union victory in 1865. They record Grant's first experience under fire in Mexico (“There is no great sport in having bullets flying about one in every direction but I find they have less horror when among them than when in anticipation”), the aching homesickness that led him to resign from the peacetime army, and his rapid rise to high command during the Civil War. Often written in haste, sometimes within the sound of gunfire, his wartime letters vividly capture the immediacy and uncertainty of the conflict. Grant initially hoped for an early conclusion to the fighting, but then came to accept that the war would have no easy end. “The world has never seen so bloody or so protracted a battle as the one being fought,” he wrote from Spotsylvania in 1864, “and I hope never will again.”
Publisher: Library of America
ISBN: 1598535900
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 198
Book Description
The Civil War’s greatest general as you’ve never seen him before: A revealing collection of letters written by Ulysses S. Grant to his wife, Julia, perfect for American history buffs. Grant’s intimate reflections on the War in Mexico and the Civil War “[show] his remarkable evolution from an insecure young soldier to a capable, self-confident general” (Ron Chernow). Ulysses S. Grant is justly celebrated as the author of one of the finest military autobiographies ever written, yet many readers of his Personal Memoirs are unaware that during his army years Grant wrote hundreds of intimate and revealing letters to his wife, Julia Dent Grant. Presented with an introduction by acclaimed biographer Ron Chernow, My Dearest Julia collects more than eighty of these letters, beginning with their engagement in 1844 and ending with the Union victory in 1865. They record Grant's first experience under fire in Mexico (“There is no great sport in having bullets flying about one in every direction but I find they have less horror when among them than when in anticipation”), the aching homesickness that led him to resign from the peacetime army, and his rapid rise to high command during the Civil War. Often written in haste, sometimes within the sound of gunfire, his wartime letters vividly capture the immediacy and uncertainty of the conflict. Grant initially hoped for an early conclusion to the fighting, but then came to accept that the war would have no easy end. “The world has never seen so bloody or so protracted a battle as the one being fought,” he wrote from Spotsylvania in 1864, “and I hope never will again.”
General Grant and the Verdict of History
Author: Frank P Varney
Publisher: Savas Beatie
ISBN: 1611215544
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 303
Book Description
General Ulysses S. Grant is best remembered today as a war-winning general, and he certainly deserves credit for his efforts on behalf of the Union. But has he received too much credit at the expense of other men? Have others who fought the war with him suffered unfairly at his hands? General Grant and the Verdict of History: Memoir, Memory, and the Civil War explores these issues. Professor Frank P. Varney examines Grants relationship with three noted Civil War generals: the brash and uncompromising Fighting Joe Hooker; George H. Thomas, the stellar commander who earned the sobriquet Rock of Chickamauga; and Gouverneur Kemble Warren, who served honorably and well in every major action of the Army of the Potomac before being relieved less than two weeks before Appomattox, and only after he had played a prominent part in the major Union victory at Five Forks. In his earlier book General Grant and the Rewriting of History, Dr. Varney studied the tempestuous relationship between Grant and Union General William S. Rosecrans. During the war, Rosecrans was considered by many of his contemporaries to be on par with Grant himself; today, he is largely forgotten. Rosecranss star dimmed, argues Varney, because Grant orchestrated the effort. Unbeknownst to most students of the war, Grant used his official reports, interviews with the press, and his memoirs to influence how future generations would remember the war and his part in it. Aided greatly by his two terms as president, by the clarity and eloquence of his memoirs, and in particular by the dramatic backdrop against which those memoirs were written, our historical memory has been influenced to a degree greater than many realize. It is beyond time to return to the original sourcesthe letters, journals, reports, and memoirs of other witnesses and the transcripts of courts-martial to examine Grants story from a fresh perspective. The results are enlightening and more than a little disturbing.
Publisher: Savas Beatie
ISBN: 1611215544
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 303
Book Description
General Ulysses S. Grant is best remembered today as a war-winning general, and he certainly deserves credit for his efforts on behalf of the Union. But has he received too much credit at the expense of other men? Have others who fought the war with him suffered unfairly at his hands? General Grant and the Verdict of History: Memoir, Memory, and the Civil War explores these issues. Professor Frank P. Varney examines Grants relationship with three noted Civil War generals: the brash and uncompromising Fighting Joe Hooker; George H. Thomas, the stellar commander who earned the sobriquet Rock of Chickamauga; and Gouverneur Kemble Warren, who served honorably and well in every major action of the Army of the Potomac before being relieved less than two weeks before Appomattox, and only after he had played a prominent part in the major Union victory at Five Forks. In his earlier book General Grant and the Rewriting of History, Dr. Varney studied the tempestuous relationship between Grant and Union General William S. Rosecrans. During the war, Rosecrans was considered by many of his contemporaries to be on par with Grant himself; today, he is largely forgotten. Rosecranss star dimmed, argues Varney, because Grant orchestrated the effort. Unbeknownst to most students of the war, Grant used his official reports, interviews with the press, and his memoirs to influence how future generations would remember the war and his part in it. Aided greatly by his two terms as president, by the clarity and eloquence of his memoirs, and in particular by the dramatic backdrop against which those memoirs were written, our historical memory has been influenced to a degree greater than many realize. It is beyond time to return to the original sourcesthe letters, journals, reports, and memoirs of other witnesses and the transcripts of courts-martial to examine Grants story from a fresh perspective. The results are enlightening and more than a little disturbing.
The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant
Author: Charles W. Calhoun
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700635122
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 736
Book Description
As controversial in politics as he was in the military, Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) was an embattled president, enormously popular with the American people, yet the target of unrelenting censure by political enemies. For the first time in almost a century, this book by the distinguished historian Charles W. Calhoun examines Grant's administration in depth, offering a fresh look at the 18th president's policies and actions during his two terms in office (1869–1877). Most biographers focus on Grant's military career, giving less attention to the significant and complex questions that marked his presidential terms. These concerns, the issues of politics and governance, are at the core of this book. As a political historian with a vast knowledge of nineteenth-century America and an extensive array of original sources at his command, Calhoun approaches Grant's presidency not as an incongruous or inconsequential sequel to his military career but instead as the polestar of American public life during a crucial decade in the nation's political development. He explores Grant's leadership style and traces his contributions to the office of president, including creating a White House staff, employing modern technology to promote the mobility of the presidency, and developing strong ties with congressional leaders to enhance executive influence over legislation. The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant provides a detailed discussion of the administration's endeavors in a variety of areas—Reconstruction and civil rights, economic policy, the Peace Policy for Native Americans, foreign policy, and civil service reform. It also offers a straightforward examination of the scandals associated with the period, highlighting the “embattled” nature of Grant's presidency and the deep antagonism that marked his relations with key critics such as Charles Sumner, Henry Adams, and Benjamin Bristow. In sum, this book is a long overdue re-evaluation of a pivotal presidency in America's political history.
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700635122
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 736
Book Description
As controversial in politics as he was in the military, Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) was an embattled president, enormously popular with the American people, yet the target of unrelenting censure by political enemies. For the first time in almost a century, this book by the distinguished historian Charles W. Calhoun examines Grant's administration in depth, offering a fresh look at the 18th president's policies and actions during his two terms in office (1869–1877). Most biographers focus on Grant's military career, giving less attention to the significant and complex questions that marked his presidential terms. These concerns, the issues of politics and governance, are at the core of this book. As a political historian with a vast knowledge of nineteenth-century America and an extensive array of original sources at his command, Calhoun approaches Grant's presidency not as an incongruous or inconsequential sequel to his military career but instead as the polestar of American public life during a crucial decade in the nation's political development. He explores Grant's leadership style and traces his contributions to the office of president, including creating a White House staff, employing modern technology to promote the mobility of the presidency, and developing strong ties with congressional leaders to enhance executive influence over legislation. The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant provides a detailed discussion of the administration's endeavors in a variety of areas—Reconstruction and civil rights, economic policy, the Peace Policy for Native Americans, foreign policy, and civil service reform. It also offers a straightforward examination of the scandals associated with the period, highlighting the “embattled” nature of Grant's presidency and the deep antagonism that marked his relations with key critics such as Charles Sumner, Henry Adams, and Benjamin Bristow. In sum, this book is a long overdue re-evaluation of a pivotal presidency in America's political history.
American Ulysses
Author: Ronald C. White
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0812981251
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 866
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of A. Lincoln, a major new biography of one of America’s greatest generals—and most misunderstood presidents Winner of the William Henry Seward Award for Excellence in Civil War Biography • Finalist for the Gilder-Lehrman Military History Book Prize In his time, Ulysses S. Grant was routinely grouped with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in the “Trinity of Great American Leaders.” But the battlefield commander–turned–commander-in-chief fell out of favor in the twentieth century. In American Ulysses, Ronald C. White argues that we need to once more revise our estimates of him in the twenty-first. Based on seven years of research with primary documents—some of them never examined by previous Grant scholars—this is destined to become the Grant biography of our time. White, a biographer exceptionally skilled at writing momentous history from the inside out, shows Grant to be a generous, curious, introspective man and leader—a willing delegator with a natural gift for managing the rampaging egos of his fellow officers. His wife, Julia Dent Grant, long marginalized in the historic record, emerges in her own right as a spirited and influential partner. Grant was not only a brilliant general but also a passionate defender of equal rights in post-Civil War America. After winning election to the White House in 1868, he used the power of the federal government to battle the Ku Klux Klan. He was the first president to state that the government’s policy toward American Indians was immoral, and the first ex-president to embark on a world tour, and he cemented his reputation for courage by racing against death to complete his Personal Memoirs. Published by Mark Twain, it is widely considered to be the greatest autobiography by an American leader, but its place in Grant’s life story has never been fully explored—until now. One of those rare books that successfully recast our impression of an iconic historical figure, American Ulysses gives us a finely honed, three-dimensional portrait of Grant the man—husband, father, leader, writer—that should set the standard by which all future biographies of him will be measured. Praise for American Ulysses “[Ronald C. White] portrays a deeply introspective man of ideals, a man of measured thought and careful action who found himself in the crosshairs of American history at its most crucial moment.”—USA Today “White delineates Grant’s virtues better than any author before. . . . By the end, readers will see how fortunate the nation was that Grant went into the world—to save the Union, to lead it and, on his deathbed, to write one of the finest memoirs in all of American letters.”—The New York Times Book Review “Ronald White has restored Ulysses S. Grant to his proper place in history with a biography whose breadth and tone suit the man perfectly. Like Grant himself, this book will have staying power.”—The Wall Street Journal “Magisterial . . . Grant’s esteem in the eyes of historians has increased significantly in the last generation. . . . [American Ulysses] is the newest heavyweight champion in this movement.”—The Boston Globe “Superb . . . illuminating, inspiring and deeply moving.”—Chicago Tribune “In this sympathetic, rigorously sourced biography, White . . . conveys the essence of Grant the man and Grant the warrior.”—Newsday
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0812981251
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 866
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of A. Lincoln, a major new biography of one of America’s greatest generals—and most misunderstood presidents Winner of the William Henry Seward Award for Excellence in Civil War Biography • Finalist for the Gilder-Lehrman Military History Book Prize In his time, Ulysses S. Grant was routinely grouped with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln in the “Trinity of Great American Leaders.” But the battlefield commander–turned–commander-in-chief fell out of favor in the twentieth century. In American Ulysses, Ronald C. White argues that we need to once more revise our estimates of him in the twenty-first. Based on seven years of research with primary documents—some of them never examined by previous Grant scholars—this is destined to become the Grant biography of our time. White, a biographer exceptionally skilled at writing momentous history from the inside out, shows Grant to be a generous, curious, introspective man and leader—a willing delegator with a natural gift for managing the rampaging egos of his fellow officers. His wife, Julia Dent Grant, long marginalized in the historic record, emerges in her own right as a spirited and influential partner. Grant was not only a brilliant general but also a passionate defender of equal rights in post-Civil War America. After winning election to the White House in 1868, he used the power of the federal government to battle the Ku Klux Klan. He was the first president to state that the government’s policy toward American Indians was immoral, and the first ex-president to embark on a world tour, and he cemented his reputation for courage by racing against death to complete his Personal Memoirs. Published by Mark Twain, it is widely considered to be the greatest autobiography by an American leader, but its place in Grant’s life story has never been fully explored—until now. One of those rare books that successfully recast our impression of an iconic historical figure, American Ulysses gives us a finely honed, three-dimensional portrait of Grant the man—husband, father, leader, writer—that should set the standard by which all future biographies of him will be measured. Praise for American Ulysses “[Ronald C. White] portrays a deeply introspective man of ideals, a man of measured thought and careful action who found himself in the crosshairs of American history at its most crucial moment.”—USA Today “White delineates Grant’s virtues better than any author before. . . . By the end, readers will see how fortunate the nation was that Grant went into the world—to save the Union, to lead it and, on his deathbed, to write one of the finest memoirs in all of American letters.”—The New York Times Book Review “Ronald White has restored Ulysses S. Grant to his proper place in history with a biography whose breadth and tone suit the man perfectly. Like Grant himself, this book will have staying power.”—The Wall Street Journal “Magisterial . . . Grant’s esteem in the eyes of historians has increased significantly in the last generation. . . . [American Ulysses] is the newest heavyweight champion in this movement.”—The Boston Globe “Superb . . . illuminating, inspiring and deeply moving.”—Chicago Tribune “In this sympathetic, rigorously sourced biography, White . . . conveys the essence of Grant the man and Grant the warrior.”—Newsday
Grant and Twain
Author: Mark Perry
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0812966139
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
In the spring of 1884 Ulysses S. Grant heeded the advice of Mark Twain and finally agreed to write his memoirs. Little did Grant or Twain realize that this seemingly straightforward decision would profoundly alter not only both their lives but the course of American literature. Over the next fifteen months, as the two men became close friends and intimate collaborators, Grant raced against the spread of cancer to compose a triumphant account of his life and times—while Twain struggled to complete and publish his greatest novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.In this deeply moving and meticulously researched book, veteran writer Mark Perry reconstructs the heady months when Grant and Twain inspired and cajoled each other to create two quintessentially American masterpieces. In a bold and colorful narrative, Perry recounts the early careers of these two giants, traces their quest for fame and elusive fortunes, and then follows the series of events that brought them together as friends. The reason Grant let Twain talk him into writing his memoirs was simple: He was bankrupt and needed the money. Twain promised Grant princely returns in exchange for the right to edit and publish the book—and though the writer’s own finances were tottering, he kept his word to the general and his family. Mortally ill and battling debts, magazine editors, and a constant crush of reporters, Grant fought bravely to get the story of his life and his Civil War victories down on paper. Twain, meanwhile, staked all his hopes, both financial and literary, on the tale of a ragged boy and a runaway slave that he had been unable to finish for decades. As Perry delves into the story of the men’s deepening friendship and mutual influence, he arrives at the startling discovery of the true model for the character of Huckleberry Finn. With a cast of fascinating characters, including General William T. Sherman, William Dean Howells, William Henry Vanderbilt, and Abraham Lincoln, Perry’s narrative takes in the whole sweep of a glittering, unscrupulous age. A story of friendship and history, inspiration and desperation, genius and ruin, Grant and Twain captures a pivotal moment in the lives of two towering Americans and the age they epitomized.
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0812966139
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
In the spring of 1884 Ulysses S. Grant heeded the advice of Mark Twain and finally agreed to write his memoirs. Little did Grant or Twain realize that this seemingly straightforward decision would profoundly alter not only both their lives but the course of American literature. Over the next fifteen months, as the two men became close friends and intimate collaborators, Grant raced against the spread of cancer to compose a triumphant account of his life and times—while Twain struggled to complete and publish his greatest novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.In this deeply moving and meticulously researched book, veteran writer Mark Perry reconstructs the heady months when Grant and Twain inspired and cajoled each other to create two quintessentially American masterpieces. In a bold and colorful narrative, Perry recounts the early careers of these two giants, traces their quest for fame and elusive fortunes, and then follows the series of events that brought them together as friends. The reason Grant let Twain talk him into writing his memoirs was simple: He was bankrupt and needed the money. Twain promised Grant princely returns in exchange for the right to edit and publish the book—and though the writer’s own finances were tottering, he kept his word to the general and his family. Mortally ill and battling debts, magazine editors, and a constant crush of reporters, Grant fought bravely to get the story of his life and his Civil War victories down on paper. Twain, meanwhile, staked all his hopes, both financial and literary, on the tale of a ragged boy and a runaway slave that he had been unable to finish for decades. As Perry delves into the story of the men’s deepening friendship and mutual influence, he arrives at the startling discovery of the true model for the character of Huckleberry Finn. With a cast of fascinating characters, including General William T. Sherman, William Dean Howells, William Henry Vanderbilt, and Abraham Lincoln, Perry’s narrative takes in the whole sweep of a glittering, unscrupulous age. A story of friendship and history, inspiration and desperation, genius and ruin, Grant and Twain captures a pivotal moment in the lives of two towering Americans and the age they epitomized.