The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace

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The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace

4.13 of 5 stars 4.13 · rating details · 277 ratings · 82 reviews

From New York Times bestselling author H. W. Brands, a masterful biography of the Civil War general and two-term president who saved the Union twice, on the battlefield and in the White House, holding the country together at two critical turning points in our history.

Ulysses Grant rose from obscurity to discover he had a genius for battle, and he propelled the Union to vic...more

ebook, 720 pages

Published October 2nd 2012 by Anchor

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Feb 13, 2013 Bob Mitchell rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

H.W. Brands provides a readable reminder here of Ulysses Grant's service to our country. I don't believe Brands breaks any new ground, and he's tripped up by some small but sloppy mistakes (referring to Credit Mobilier figure Oakes Ames as a former congressman, for example), but this story of a modest man endowed with "moral courage" is a useful corrective for those inclined to think the only good generals of the war wore gray. At the same time, Brands -- joining the ranks of other modern histor...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Tom Johnson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Excellent one volume review of Grant's contribution to our country's history. The 3-volume set (Lloyd Lewis/Bruce Catton)remains the standard for Grant's life through the end of the Civil War but if you want a one volume work Brands' effort is a tad better than Jean Edward Smith's. The bugger has always been Grant's presidency - though it has to be admitted that governing the post Civil War States was hugely difficult. Racism and class warfare fired up immediately. Amazing how reading the histor...more Excellent one volume review of Grant's contribution to our country's history. The 3-volume set (Lloyd Lewis/Bruce Catton)remains the standard for Grant's life through the end of the Civil War but if you want a one volume work Brands' effort is a tad better than Jean Edward Smith's. The bugger has always been Grant's presidency - though it has to be admitted that governing the post Civil War States was hugely difficult. Racism and class warfare fired up immediately. Amazing how reading the history of 1866-1877 is like reading today's news. Unlike today's popinjays who proclaim themselves Great Men Grant truly was a Great Man. A man who could lead an army from horseback. (This in my estimation is no small matter.) A man whose bravery, commitment and integrity could not and cannot be besmirched by 150 years of calumny spewed forth by depraved racists who think their lily white ass the end and be-all of creation. (Damn but this country has advanced so little from Reconstruction.) Some interesting Brands observations: Brands makes note of the division of the old Republican Party into the "Conscience Republicans" and the "Capitalist Republicans" - exactly what we are witnessing today. The other surprise was Grant's being captive of the "confidence fairy" - I did not know that or didn't recognize the fact - but it's understandable - the odd thing is during the Civil War years we went off the Gold Standard in favor of Greenbacks - wonder what would have happened had we abandoned tight money way back then - but then again there was no Federal Reserve and criminals ran the country (so unlike today - lol). Hunt's last chapter (indeed the last 2 pages) offer one hell of a summation to the Greatness that was Grant. Slavery - Secession - WAR. Those who would have it that: the Civil War was only about States Rights vs. Saving the Union w/o admitting the root cause of the Secession - are playing the rest of us for fools. The original Constitution with its institutionalized Slavery was a deeply flawed document. As a nation we are still paying the price.
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Feb 18, 2013 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

General Ulysses S. Grant was in many respects a great man. He was undeniably a great general. As President of the United States, however, he didn't perform nearly as well; he just wasn’t well-suited for the position. He had heart, and at least expressed much more passion for the plight of minorities (including women and people of color) and the injustices done to them than did even Lincoln, if not nearly as eloquently. But with an almost total lack of political instincts, his expressions remaine...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Socraticgadfly rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, history, military-history

NOT Brands' best work

First, there's one majorly wrong historical interpretation. Seeing that made me read the rest of this book in general with a more critical eye.

And that is that Brands perpetuates the myth that Gen. George Thomas had a McClellan-like sloth in the days before the Battle of Nashville in January, 1865. This myth has been convincingly refuted for some time.

Other issues I have with the book? I think Brands is too charitable on Grant's Reconstruction work as president, and doesn't...more

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Nov 30, 2012 Steven Peterson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recently, I read a biography of Ulysses S. Grant authored by Jean Edward Smith. The end result was quite good. There was a nuanced analysis of the problems with ethics by some of his Administration while he was President. This work, too, does a fine job of giving us a view of U. S. Grant's life. Some preliminary comments.

Those with some familiarity with Grant will not necessarily find new revelations here. However, one will get a solid treatment of his life and his contributions.

His early life i...more Recently, I read a biography of Ulysses S. Grant authored by Jean Edward Smith. The end result was quite good. There was a nuanced analysis of the problems with ethics by some of his Administration while he was President. This work, too, does a fine job of giving us a view of U. S. Grant's life. Some preliminary comments.

Those with some familiarity with Grant will not necessarily find new revelations here. However, one will get a solid treatment of his life and his contributions.

His early life is covered better elsewhere, but the discussion of his military career and his presidency is well done. One gets a sense of how his personality and experience shaped his remarkable career in the Civil War. A man who was seen as a failure in "the old army" became one of the best fighting generals in the Civil War. While others were overcautious (e.f., Don Carlos Buell, George McClellan, Henry Halleck in his one embarrassing field command), Grant was aggressive, early on capturing the attention of President Lincoln. This volume gives a sense of his tactical and strategic thinking and his understanding of what needed to be done to win the war against the Confederate States of America.

The discussion of his role as head of the military while Andrew Johnson served as President is quite nicely done, as is the depiction of his role in trying to safeguard the newly freed slaves. The almost inevitable move from military commander to president is described well. The explication of the ups and downs of his presidency is handled well. He is not portrayed as blameless for the problems, but we do see that he stood up to forces opposed to him, whether in the economic realm, the civil rights realm, the world of the American Indian, and so on. He surely was not as successful as president as he would have liked; he probably was not as bad as many still believe.

And then his post-presidential career and his desperate race against death to provide for his family, with Mark Twain as a key supporter for him.

All in all, a very solid biography, although one will not be overwhelmed by many new insights into his life and times. (less)

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Nov 17, 2012 Randy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The book proves that US Grant got a bad rap as President. The evidence presented by HW Brands demonstrates that Grant was a thoughtful, intelligent Chief Executive during an extremely difficult time in our history—the era of Reconstruction, where elements in the South wanted to continue without change. Grant walked a tightrope in his decision making, reluctantly sending Federal troops to S. Carolina and later Louisianna to suppress the activities of the KKK and other recalcitrants. He was involv...more The book proves that US Grant got a bad rap as President. The evidence presented by HW Brands demonstrates that Grant was a thoughtful, intelligent Chief Executive during an extremely difficult time in our history—the era of Reconstruction, where elements in the South wanted to continue without change. Grant walked a tightrope in his decision making, reluctantly sending Federal troops to S. Carolina and later Louisianna to suppress the activities of the KKK and other recalcitrants. He was involved in a difficult economic period full of high level film flammers. After his presidency ended Grant himself was victimized by a scammer, his own son's partner, who left him deeply in debt and struggling to get by, a concept unknown to Presidents of our era. After his financial debacle Grant was diagnosed with throat cancer. In order to earn some money he finally agreed to write about the Civil War, first in a series of articles and, finally, in an autobiographical account of his generalship for publisher Samuel Clemons. He finished it just before his death and the booth acclaimed by reviewers and became a best seller earning his widow $400,000, a huge amount in the late nineteenth century.

For twenty years following the Civil War, Grant was the most famous and highly regarded person in America. He was, in addition
famous throughout the world, feted by kings and emperors on a circumnavigation he took following his second term as President.

There is much less controversy surrounding Grant's generalship. Grant was the general that Lincoln sought, a man who would fight. He was cool, collected and clear in his orders. He didn't get rattled and expected always to win by moving forward. The great mystery of his character (and one I wished the author had tackled) is how Grant who had a middling fifteen year career in the US Army before resigning to avoid a court marshal over his drinking, and who failed as a farmer before the war could have stepped up to the plate to become General of the Army and President of the United States. Grant must have required the circumstance of war to prove his mettle.

This is a long book covering cradle to grave, well-researched and convincing but short on analysis. Having read Grant's autobiography, I came away with a new understanding and appreciation of his role in American history.(less)

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Nov 02, 2012 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biographies-autobiographies

H. W. Brands , "The Man Who Saved the Union" is more than a biography of General and President U.S. Grant. The book details the political, economic, and social environment during Grant's time in public life. Mr. Brands allows the reader to understand Grant's actions during the Civil War and during his Presidency. He details both Grant's triumphs and failures; all major events receive attention. The biography is compelling, well written, and full of quotes which add flavor to the narrative.

As the...more

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Apr 16, 2013 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this book. It was well researched, and shared new insights about this General and President that I had not known before. Starting from his childhood, early career challenges, his quick ascension through the military, his cautious entry into politics and his unwavering support for blacks and the reconstruction of the South, it was a marvelous journey. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars was the rather sudden and abrupt ending. Following his Presidency, Grant had a period of...more

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Dec 23, 2012 Paul Pessolano rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“The Man Who Saved the Union, Ulysses Grant in War and Peace” by H.W. Brands, published by Doubleday Books.

Category – Biography

Although this book is a biography of Ulysses Grant, I found it to be one of the best books I have read on the Civil War. H.W. Brands gives a stunning overall view of the war without going into details about each individual battle. Brands gives a concise view of the major battles and their results.

As a biography, the book puts a totally different perspective on Grant than...more

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Mar 08, 2013 Ernie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a well written biography about the life and times of Grant. The author picked keys points throughout his life/career to describe Grant. The points were sequential, frequent in time, built on each other and demonstrated the growth he experienced over his life.

My perception of Grant before reading this was that he was a failure as a farmer, brilliant as a general and a failure as a president. The book fleshed out this story and created a more sympathetic picture all the way around. He wen...more This is a well written biography about the life and times of Grant. The author picked keys points throughout his life/career to describe Grant. The points were sequential, frequent in time, built on each other and demonstrated the growth he experienced over his life.

My perception of Grant before reading this was that he was a failure as a farmer, brilliant as a general and a failure as a president. The book fleshed out this story and created a more sympathetic picture all the way around. He went to West Point, performed well in the Mexican American War, then resigned while stations in remote western outposts because of drinking. He married, tried farming and did not do well. He was a fairly ordinary fellow. When the Civil War broke out, he re-enlisted and rose to the top. It turns out that he had a uniquely brilliant military mind. As a war hero, he was a natural candidate for President, in the mold of Washington, Jackson, Taylor. He was popular. However, as a soldier he had always tried to avoid politics. Now as the leader of Republican politicians, he floundered. He could not or would not capitalize on his popularity to effect the things he wanted to do. He still had quite a few successes.

His poor leadership led to the Democratic party gaining control of the House of Reps during the end of this second term. The House began investigating and discovering fiscal improprieties among members of the Executive branch. Grant was never implicated and apparently not suspect. But his reputation suffered because he had appointed an trusted them. Grant was personally dismayed with the obvious graft by people he had trusted. The author seemed to say that Grant was not a great president, despite his popularity, nor was he a particularly bad president. But he seriously underperformed expectations.

I was surprised about the representation of congress. The bickering and partisanship sounds precisely like what we see today. Rules were manipulated to effect consequences. Partisanship trumped statesmanship. According to the book, this is the way it has always been. I don’t doubt it. But I do wonder to what extent the author tailored the description of the politics to match up with the modern shenanigans.

I was surprised about the representation of civil rights issues. Grant was a champion of providing citizenship and the right to vote to former slaves (14 & 15 Amendments) . Many people were. Part of this was cast as a crass political move to ensure that there would be black Republican (party of Lincoln!) voters. Part of it was a genuine belief in the rights of all people (men). --- But equality was not discussed. I was left curious about the beliefs of Grant on that score. The shallowness of the book was apparent in that while it described the events in the life of Grant analysis of beliefs were not very deep. In this case it was most apparent. For a while Grant was seeking to annex the Dominican Republic… at their request… with the thought that it would provide a territory or state that would be American and black. The text states that it would make the blacks in America more confident that there was a place in the United States for blacks. But I was left wondering if this wasn’t part of the “emmigration” theme that black would be shipped out of the continental United States…. a bit like Liberia. As I understand it, many if not most abolitionists of the time abhorred slavery but did not believe in the physical, mental and moral equality of blacks and whites. I would guess that Grant would belong to this category but the biography is moot or ambiguous on this point.

The book was a wonderful history of that time told from the proximity of Grant. Most of it dealt with the war. The events after the war were recounted as a series of notable events. Grant was conscious of his hero status, humble as befits a Roman-style hero and handicapped because it kept him from using ”this super-power to do good”. It also sounds like he was at home in the military and out of place elsewhere. I recommend the book. It was interesting to read.
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Mar 29, 2013 thewanderingjew rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In this audiobook, the reader is superb; the presentation has perfect cadence and expression, and a lengthy book, that could have become tedious, because of the excessive detail, is instead, incredibly interesting and engaging. The author’s use of language, with his ideal choice of words and his understanding of the information, is completely engrossing. This book is a remarkable feat of detailed research and organization. Grant becomes totally real and human.
Born Hiram Ulysses Grant, he was la...more In this audiobook, the reader is superb; the presentation has perfect cadence and expression, and a lengthy book, that could have become tedious, because of the excessive detail, is instead, incredibly interesting and engaging. The author’s use of language, with his ideal choice of words and his understanding of the information, is completely engrossing. This book is a remarkable feat of detailed research and organization. Grant becomes totally real and human.
Born Hiram Ulysses Grant, he was later called U. S. Grant because of a clerical error that was made when he attended West Point. After attempting unsuccessfully to revert to his real name, he acquiesced and accepted it, but insisted on using his middle name, Hiram, as well. He was good at soldiering until he was brought up on charges of excessive drinking, forcing him to resign rather than have the charges on his record. He then tried his hand at farming and at managing his father-in-law’s assets, but the forces of nature, the confluence of political events beyond his control, and his own inability to make sound decisions, sometimes being too naïve, or too soft a touch, caused him to fail at everything else but working in the service of his country.
As a soldier, he was influential in many battles. He was sent far and wide, corresponding with his sweetheart Julia, for several years before they could marry. Often stationed in places he could not bring his wife and children, he was lonely and missed them desperately. His wife was stoic, bearing children without his presence and raising them without his help, while often expressing support for his efforts. Because he was not able to accumulate a fortune, large enough to allow him to leave the service, he remained.
Grant was so devoted to the preservation of the Union, that he rarely returned home and only saw his second child for the first time after more than two years. At that time, his fortunes deteriorated, and after the birth of two more children and an inability to earn a living and make a success out of his life, he finally asked his disappointed father for help. He was allowed to enter into the business of two of his brothers. He was, actually, finally, good at something, other than soldiering. When asked to go back into the militia, he initially refused. At the time, Lincoln was President, and war was imminent because of the secession of the South. Eventually he entered the regular army, rather than the militia. A soft-spoken, humble man with no remarkable accomplishments until he was a soldier, he had a hand in all of the major events of the century in which he lived and worked. His achievements during the Civil War showed a remarkable grasp of military skill and judgment. Eventually, he was made head of all the armies and finally of the War Department, as part of President Johnson's cabinet after Lincoln’s assassination.
Grant often disagreed with Johnson, and for the sake of the Union, although a reluctant candidate, he ran against him and won. His run for the Presidency was an act of duty rather than desire. He was unique in that he was propelled mainly by his interest in the preservation of the Union and not by personal, political ambition. He did not want the losses and accomplishments of the Civil War to be rescinded by a President who sought to remove the power of the Congress and reverse the gains achieved for the country, which were accomplished through great hardship, the loss of thousands and thousands of lives, coupled with thousands and thousands of casualties. He was motivated by the desire to make sure that those sacrifices should not have been in vain.
Equal opportunity for all was the foundation of his Presidency. In many parts of the South, the Confederacy, although vanquished, was not willing to give up its lifestyle. The Ku Klux Klan was allowed to run rampant, committing completely unjust acts of brutality and murder without penalty. Were it not for Grant’s intervention, sending in the army, they would have continued without check. He worked untiringly for people of color and Native American Indians. I was surprised to learn that Grant, a Republican, was so preoccupied with abolishing slavery. He spearheaded the effort to give equal rights to freed slaves and fair treatment to the American Indian. It was the Democrats who were largely against these practices. Without the Republicans, that equality and freedom might never have been granted, and the fight against slavery might not have succeeded.
I was also surprised to learn that during his career, despite his interest in equal rights for all, he singled out the Jews for punishment because of their control of cotton sales. These sales greatly enhanced the South’s ability to fight on and engage the North in battle. Grant made some pretty controversial anti-Semitic statements and issued some pretty anti-Semitic directives, some of which were reversed by Lincoln because they condemned a whole class of people. These people were even fighting for the cause of the Union. They were rulings that were not just against the peddlers, that he found irritating, because they controlled the cotton sales which funded the South. Although his purpose was motivated by the need to cut the South's capability to supply itself, so he could defeat them at Vicksburg, he later, when running for the presidency, disavowed the statements and apologized for making them. His behavior ever after was always to increase the rights of others and to support fair treatment for all, so I have to assume the stress of the war affected his sound judgment and was not representative of who he was or what he believed, as he so claimed.
All of the battles that General Grant was engaged in throughout his career are described and Grant’s enormous successes and failures are detailed. The man who could not please his father or gain success in private life, was incredibly capable as a soldier, plain-speaking, open-minded, evenhanded and honest, he goes on to become the highest ranking officer in the service of his country and a two-term President of the United States. When he dies, prematurely from Cancer, he is revered and viewed in state for days. His final resting place is Grant's tomb, a place of honor, in New York.

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Feb 08, 2013 Martin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Exhaustive and occasionally exhausting, this is more than a biography, it's a portrait of a large chunk of American history, covering 1840-1880 especially. Grant himself often gets lost in the wide ranging narrative, but I did not mind as I was equally interested in Sherman and other key players in Grant's life and our history. I appreciated the detailed description of what went haywire in Washington politics during Johnson's and Grant's presidencies, though I often had difficulty following it a...more

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Apr 17, 2013 Caroline rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: american-civil-war, american-history, biography

Historians have always been fairly uneven towards Ulysses S. Grant. They have praised him as a military leader and savaged him as a political leader. Somehow a man who was considered wise, self-confident and honest during the Civil War came to be seen as naive, ill-prepared and out of his depth as a President. It seems almost as though history describes two different men when it comes to General Grant and President Grant.

Brands' biography is very balanced and even-handed, and in contrast to many...more

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Dec 26, 2012 Robert rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Reading the life of 'The Man Who Saved The Union' is one of the best things I ever did. There are a lot of perceptions of Ulysses Grant that I have heard over the years ranging from his drinking to the careless loss of life in battles he had commanded and all the way down to his corrupt presidency. While there is some truth in all of these, it was great to read for the first time a book devoted to him and understand him much better. He opposed the Mexican-American war and yet served bravely in i...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Zakariah Johnson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: war-and-politics

There is a tremendous challenge in writing something new about the Civil War. This task is doubled when the subject--Ulysses Grant--is himself the author of one of the most lauded autobiographies in American history, not to mention of many subsequent biographies. Unfortunately, while giving a competent chronology of Grant's achievements, this book doesn't convey a sense of who the man was or the essential nature of his character. It also gets around very late to its central thesis--that by enfor...more There is a tremendous challenge in writing something new about the Civil War. This task is doubled when the subject--Ulysses Grant--is himself the author of one of the most lauded autobiographies in American history, not to mention of many subsequent biographies. Unfortunately, while giving a competent chronology of Grant's achievements, this book doesn't convey a sense of who the man was or the essential nature of his character. It also gets around very late to its central thesis--that by enforcing the 14th and 15th Amendments and suppressing the Ku Klux Klan that Grant did even more to save the Union as president than he had as Union commander. It's an interesting idea, but not unchallenged or sufficiently explored. The book is a reasonable introduction to Grant, but rather than proving or disproving any ground-breaking theses about him, it mostly doesn't propose any.

The book is divided into three parts: (1) antebellum Grant, (2) the Civil War, and (3) Grant's presidency and denouement. The first part is brief, and the section on the Civil War draws so deeply on General Sherman's memoires at times I felt I was rereading them. Grant's style of command and influence is not really discussed, other than showing he had the good fortune to command Sherman and Sheridan. And this is a shame, because the author hints at Grant's personal choices as being especially influential in passages like this one, quoting one of Grant's letters to Sheridan during the Civil War:

"...All male citizens under fifty can fairly be held as prisoners of war and not as citizen prisoners. If not already soldiers, they will be made so the moment the rebel army gets hold of them...The families of most of [Mosby's] men are known and can be collected...When any of them are caught with nothing to designate what they are, hang them without trial."

Was this harshness typical of Grant and did it contribute to his success? These questions about the influence of Grant's character on his successes, failures and legacy are not deeply pursued. Neither are most questions of Grant's reputation as a drunk and an incompetent administrator--Were they unfair? Were they true? At the end, though he is clearly an admirer of Grant's, the author's opinion remains elusive.
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P.S. As an aside, the corruption for which Grant's presidency is largely remembered is for actions like insider trading and exchanges of favors between Washington and Wall St. that are so commonplace and entrenched today that they elicit little comment or even public outcry. That was one of the more interesting parts of the book--that what Grant was attacked for most at the beginning of the Gilded Age doesn't raise eyebrows today.(less)

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May 03, 2013 Janis rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I’m of two minds about this biography of U.S. Grant. I found the first chapters disappointing. I’d hoped for more about Grant’s background, to learn more about his family and his childhood home, and wanted to get a better sense of what his world was like when he was young. And in the section on the Civil War years, it felt like the author was writing a history of the war instead of focusing on Grant’s life and role…that became frustrating. But I appreciated the author’s scholarship and research...more

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Dec 16, 2012 Patrick rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biographies

H.W. Brands gives U.S. Grant his due, and while I appreciated learning how admirable a man "Sam" Grant actually was, I also appreciated that H.W. Brands wrote about him with intelligence and restraint. This is not a "rah-rah" biography; it's simply an honest book about a general and president too often obscured by the commander-in-chief to whom he reported during the Civil War.

If you have been told that Grant was a one-dimensional fighting man or a drunk whose armies overwhelmed Robert E. Lee's...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Kevin Scott rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was looking for a thorough assessment of Grant's presidency and I suspect that this is a good as I will get, but it's still a bit disappointing in that respect. It's hard to see if Grant had any overarching approach to the presidency other than to preserve the Union's victory and Reconstruction. Brands covers the other relevant topics (like his interest in civil service reform) but it's occasionally difficult to evaluate what motivated Grant's positions on issues beyond Reconstruction, as he w...more

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Dec 19, 2012 Dan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I knew very little about Ulysses S Grant before reading this book. I knew he was the main general on the Union side during the Civil War and that he later became president, but I seemed to recall that he wasn't a particularly good president. In a way The Man Who Saved the Union is working against that popular misconception to burnish Grant's somewhat tarnished legacy.

H.W. Brands is known for his sweeping presidential biographies - he penned the Wilson biography in the Times Books ambitious Amer...more I knew very little about Ulysses S Grant before reading this book. I knew he was the main general on the Union side during the Civil War and that he later became president, but I seemed to recall that he wasn't a particularly good president. In a way The Man Who Saved the Union is working against that popular misconception to burnish Grant's somewhat tarnished legacy.

H.W. Brands is known for his sweeping presidential biographies - he penned the Wilson biography in the Times Books ambitious American Presidents series - and with The Man Who Saved the Union he doesn't disappoint. We start, as all biographies must, in the beginning. Born Hiram Ulysses Grant, called Ulys by his family, Grant is a pretty common frontier kid. A wiz on horseback and always with an eye out for business. That enthusiasm for business, however, didn't extend to his father's tannery business. It was a lifelong antipathy and one that led to some animosity between father and son; animosity that only the presidency appears to have dispelled. Some interesting trivia about Grant: The "S" doesn't stand for anything; it was the result of a clerical error when he enrolled at West Point. The same clerical error also erased his given name while promoting Ulysses to his first name, hence U.S. Grant. The patriotic ring of it proved too tempting for the august military academy and the name stuck.

After West Point, Grant spent a fair amount of time in the army, participating in the Mexican-American war, and later on the Pacific coast during the gold rush. Eventually, he resigned his commission following allegations that he was drinking too much. By this point he'd married and fathered two kids. He returned to them and made a go of it in farming and various industries, but the child who had always sought a business angle proved to be a lousy businessman. Almost every attempt Grant made at business in his life floundered. He was born for war, though, and the Civil War offered him a chance to return to the only profession he'd ever been good at. The presidency followed, then an illustrious life as a beloved private citizen who counted Samuel Clemens among his friends and colleagues. Grant's final years found him swindled in business and dancing on the gilded edge of penury while fiendishly scribbling his memoirs in a final attempt to secure his family's financial security. As in war and politics, he ultimately succeeded in literature as well.

A good chunk of the book is dedicated to Grant's efforts during the war. It's a good read for those interested in the subject, but I was more interested in what happened after the war. Luckily, Brands delivered. Reconstruction and the presidency years were wonderfully articulated, and despite the fact that I knew of none of the political machinations of the era Brands did a great job of guiding me through. I never felt lost or overwhelmed. I was also fascinated to see how presidential campaigns have changed since the mid-19th century. Grant didn't give a single stump speech until he campaigned on behalf of James Garfield well after his own (Grant's) presidency has ended, nor did he ever announce his own candidacy. It was considered beneath the dignity of the office to pursue it much back then. Or, maybe, as" the man who saved the Union," Grant just didn't need to campaign much.

I read the Kindle edition, which didn't include any images. That was a real missed opportunity here, and it almost tempted me to buy the hardcover (another great argument for selling physical and digital editions as a bundle like the record industry does, but I digress). Other than that, I really liked reading this on a reader. It's a big book and lugging that around would've been a pain. Sure would look nice on my shelf, though.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for fans of political biographies and Civil War buffs. In Brands' hands, Grant's legacy is secured. I now know our 18th president was a great general, a powerful political force who's positive contribution to reconstruction shouldn't be overlooked, and a man who's honor was beyond reproach. Now if only I could find a good biography of one of our worst presidents: James Buchanan. I've been curious about him for years. Anybody have any suggestions?(less)

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Dec 11, 2012 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: civil-war-era, non-fiction, american-history, own-read

A solid read about one of our great historical figures who somehow gets lost in the shuffle. This book takes us through the life of U.S. Grant, with the two major sections covering the Civil War and his Presidency.

I enjoyed the book because I learned a lot. None of the Civil War stuff was very new, but the information about his early life, his Presidency, and especially the short section on his post-presidential life were fascinating.

I would have given this five stars but something about the st...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Deb Luppino rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A real hero. Love Civil War books and already knew of his massive contribution there but he also was a way better president than he's been given credit for. In some ways, since he spent the 8 years of his presidency trying to re-form the United States after the Civil War by following Lincoln's principles, he had more impact than Lincoln did. Got a little long explaining some of the scandals (I listened to an audiobook so it takes way longer than reading) but enjoyed the book and raised Grant eve...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Joant rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

US Grant is my forth favorite man who became president , after FDR, Lincoln and Washington. I think he was an honest soldier, honest about war. I know his presidency had scandals, but I also credit it and him with keeping the peace and the 15th amendment. And who can not love this man

toiling for his family's future as he faced death.
This book was a good read, and was especially good at setting the historical stage.

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Dec 03, 2012 Gary rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Brands paints a very positive picture of Grant in this book. Grant is shown to be a man with extreme confidence who somehow seems to rise to the top of every enterprise he undertakes. The author claims that Grant's ethics were unquestionable, that his reputation as a drinker was immensely overblown, and that he played no part in the scandals that rocked his administration. As president, he tried his best to follow in the footsteps of Lincoln in his treatment of blacks, especially as he attempted...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Bob rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have read four of H. W. Brands’ previous books and although I have enjoyed each I have mostly ranked Mr. Brand’s just below some of my favorite authors. I have found Brand’s books are serviceable to his subject but I sometimes wish he had a better flair for storytelling and perhaps a novelist's eye for narrative. None up until this volume has been much of a page turner. It may be the meeting of subject here, General and President Grant, or my reaction to the subject… but I found Brand’s latest...more I have read four of H. W. Brands’ previous books and although I have enjoyed each I have mostly ranked Mr. Brand’s just below some of my favorite authors. I have found Brand’s books are serviceable to his subject but I sometimes wish he had a better flair for storytelling and perhaps a novelist's eye for narrative. None up until this volume has been much of a page turner. It may be the meeting of subject here, General and President Grant, or my reaction to the subject… but I found Brand’s latest book his best and a really enjoyable, readable, and a tremendously interesting narrative of Grant’s life, the history of his time, and his impact on our Nations progress towards civil rights for all. (I am aware there are some other highly regarded recent biography’s on Grant. I have not read these so cannot make a comparison. I can only but recommend this volume highly.)

Brands keeps his chapter short and wraps each in an event in Grants life, or an event that will lead Grant’s destiny towards it. Many of these are failures by others, from poor Union Generals to the disaster that was the Andrew Johnson Presidency. Brands expands the scope of his book without over burdening it by including concurrent history, a bit of analysis, many brief biographies of principles and Grant’s difficult relationship with a father who apparently held Grant’s promise with little regard. Grant appears to have been, much like Truman a failure at anything to do with business or investing. But what he did have was character, leadership and the ability to inspire with empathy. A rather lost event to US History classes is how Grant as President took on the KKK and tore down its influence for decades to come. (It is a pity that for years after leaders failed to follow Grant’s example.)

As with any history or biography there are usually much relevance to our current history and culture. Our roots go deep into our past and revisionism seems to make people forget the sacrifice of so many to unsure the freedom for so many they would never meet and were yet unborn. Thank our inherent good luck as a nation to have had a Lincoln and a Grant when we needed them.
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May 05, 2013 happy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, history-civil-war

H.W. Brands has written a both a very readable and very favorable biography of one the most important military figures in our countries history. Dr Brands looks a US Grants life from his boyhood in Ohio through to his death from cancer in New York, with obvious emphasis on his Civil War record and post Civil War career.
In his coverage of the Civil War, Dr Brands concentrates on the personalities and overall strategy of the war, rather than tactics of the battles. He does not shed much new light...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Meg - A Bookish Affair rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, non-fiction, politics-history

This is a great (albeit long) look at the life of Ulysses S. Grant. Before listening to this book (it was an audiobook), I didn't know very much about Grant other than some of the very great things he did during the Civil War and that he became President. I was very interested to see the other sides of this larger than life legend.

I learned a lot. The book goes into extensive detail about Grant's life from his childhood until his death with a heavy focus (unsurprisingly) on the Civil War and yea...more

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Oct 22, 2012 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, biographical, books-i-own, firstreads, non-fiction

I won a copy of The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace from a firstreads giveaway, and I kind of get the idea that H.W. Brands is a good go-to when you want to read an historical biography. In this one, he takes on the life of Ulysses S. Grant from cradle to grave (spoilers, Grant dies at the end).

Not that Brands doesn't have some prime material to work with in the life of Grant. He's a West Point grad, a failure at a number of business endeavors, General who wins the Civil...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Andrew rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: firstreads-giveaways, audio-book

The size of this book intimidated me; approaching 700 pages WITHOUT end notes, references, or an index (I had an ARC), I hesitated in starting it - that is, until I found it on Audio CD at our local library. I checked it out, and worked out a plan to listen to the 23 CDs in 4 blocks of 6 disks each. WRONG! I got so engrossed, I listened into the 14th disk, pausing only when the narrative reached the meeting of Grant & Lee at Appomattox Courthouse. (Even then, I would have kept going, except...more The size of this book intimidated me; approaching 700 pages WITHOUT end notes, references, or an index (I had an ARC), I hesitated in starting it - that is, until I found it on Audio CD at our local library. I checked it out, and worked out a plan to listen to the 23 CDs in 4 blocks of 6 disks each. WRONG! I got so engrossed, I listened into the 14th disk, pausing only when the narrative reached the meeting of Grant & Lee at Appomattox Courthouse. (Even then, I would have kept going, except I had another audio book coming due at the library that I had to squeeze in ...)

I learned things about Ulysses Grant that I had not picked up in my history classes - for example, his lack of success outside of the miltary leadership and political arenas. And I learned things about our country, starting with the fact that we came close during the Grant administration to annexing the Dominican Republic - with the encouragement and blessing of the Dominicans!

H.W. Brands has done an extensive amount of research into the life of the 18th President of the United States. Much of his material includes quotations from Grant and his contemporaries, taken from newspapers, formal papers, private correspondance, and other documentation. It is definitely NOT a dry historical read; rather, it flows with the pacing of an epic novel.

Brands has a definite bias in favor of the General. He alleges at the end that the negative aspects of Grant's reputation that we hear today - the heavy drinking, the scandals of his adminstration, etc. - are largely a result of negatives spread by his enemies - Confederate sympathizers long after the war ended, bankers who did not receive the favorable governmental support that they expected, and others. He does not raise a defense in the true sense of the word; rather, he lays out the man's life and lets the reader draw his or her own conclusions (although he clearly paints the picture in such a way that the conclusion is unavoidable).

Did the general drink? To excess? According to Brands, yes - but not nearly as often or for as long as is alleged. Scandals? Yes, there were. BUT they were said to be magnified by his political enemies who had their own similar skeletons that were NOT exposed. We have only the word of the author that the "facts" we all know aren't nearly as factual as we might think.

A great read, although you DO have to block out a great deal of time if you hope to finish this book.

DISCLOSURE: As implied above, I received an Advance Readers Copy of this book through the Goodreads FirstRead program. No conditions were placed upon that gift, not even to actually read or review the material.(less)

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Jan 04, 2013 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I am a history buff, particularly military history. Plus I recently visited Grant's Tomb - a National Historic Site in New York City. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I wish I could remember all the fascinating details of this man's life. Several times I wrote down things he said as president about the greed of politicians. So much applied to today!

It was a very long book, though, and I had to take some breaks from reading it, just to give my brain a rest. I highly recommend it to other history nu...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Dave rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The book portrays a man who has kind of been overlooked by history. We know of Grant as the soldier who accepted Lee's surrender at Appomattox. A fighter who was committed to carrying out Lincolns dream of a re-unified country, where slavery did not exist. He carried out Lincolns dream as a president of a badly fractured nation where peace was tenuous at best. His goal was to keep the peace at any price. He did so. Keeping the hard fought reunion alive. He fought a long battle with the Ku Klux K...more

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About H.W. Brands

Henry William Brands was born in Portland, Oregon, where he lived until he went to California for college. He attended Stanford University and studied history and mathematics. After graduating he became a traveling salesman, with a territory that spanned the West from the Pacific to Colorado. His wanderlust diminished after several trips across the Great Basin, and he turned to sales of a differen...more Henry William Brands was born in Portland, Oregon, where he lived until he went to California for college. He attended Stanford University and studied history and mathematics. After graduating he became a traveling salesman, with a territory that spanned the West from the Pacific to Colorado. His wanderlust diminished after several trips across the Great Basin, and he turned to sales of a different sort, namely teaching. For nine years he taught mathematics and history in high school and community college. Meanwhile he resumed his formal education, earning graduate degrees in mathematics and history, concluding with a doctorate in history from the University of Texas at Austin. He worked as an oral historian at the University of Texas Law School for a year, then became a visiting professor of history at Vanderbilt University. In 1987 he joined the history faculty at Texas A&M University, where he taught for seventeen years. In 2005 he returned to the University of Texas, where he is the Dickson Allen Anderson Centennial Professor of History and Professor of Government. ~ He has written twenty-two books, coauthored or edited five others, and published dozens of articles and scores of reviews. His books include Traitor to His Class, The Money Men, Andrew Jackson, The Age of Gold, The First American, TR, The Strange Death of American Liberalism, What America Owes the World, and The Devil We Knew. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune, the Boston Globe, the Atlantic Monthly, the Smithsonian, the National Interest, the American Historical Review, the Journal of American History, the Political Science Quarterly, American History, and many other newspapers, magazines and journals. ~ His writings have received critical and popular acclaim. The First American was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Los Angeles Times Prize, as well as a New York Times bestseller. The Age of Gold was a Washington Post Best Book of 2002 and a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller. Andrew Jackson was a Chicago Tribune Best Book of 2005 and a Washington Post bestseller. What America Owes the World was a finalist for the Lionel Gelber Prize in international affairs. The Wages of Globalism was a Choice Outstanding Academic Book winner. Lone Star Nation won the Deolece Parmelee Award. ~ He is a member of various honorary societies, including the Society of American Historians and the Philosophical Society of Texas. He is a regular guest on national radio and television programs, and is frequently interviewed by the American and foreign press. His writings have been published in several countries and translated into German, French, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.(less)

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