The seminal biography of one of America's towering, enigmatic figures. From his boyhood in Ohio to the battlefields of the Civil War and his presidency during the crucial years of Reconstruction, this Pulitzer Prize-winning biography traces the entire arc of Grant's life (1822-1885). "A moving and convincing portrait....profound understanding of the man as well as his period and his country." C. Vann Woodward, "New York Review of Books" "Clearsightedness, along with McFeely's unfailing intelligence and his existential sympathy...informs his entire biography." Justin Kaplan, "The New Republic"
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Review
A moving and convincing portrait....profound understanding of the man as well as his period and his country. -- C. Vann Woodward, New York Review of Books
Clearsightedness, along with McFeely's unfailing intelligence and his existential sympathy...informs his entire biography. -- Justin Kaplan, The New Republic
Combines scholarly exactness with evocative passages....Biography at its best. -- Marcus Cunliffe, New York Times Book Review --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Clearsightedness, along with McFeely's unfailing intelligence and his existential sympathy...informs his entire biography. -- Justin Kaplan, The New Republic
Combines scholarly exactness with evocative passages....Biography at its best. -- Marcus Cunliffe, New York Times Book Review --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
About the Author
William S. McFeely is the author of Yankee Stepfather, Frederick Douglass, Sapelo's People, and, most recently, Proximity to Death. He lives in Wellfleet, Massachusetts.
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First Sentence
ULYSSES GRANT loved the sound of a crowd. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
ULYSSES GRANT loved the sound of a crowd. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
Format:Hardcover
McFeely won the Pulitzer Prize for this book in 1982, but the conclusions he reaches about his subject have drawn fire ever since. Those sympathetic to Grant correctly point to errant assumptions and mistakes in character analysis. Most glaring is McFeely's insistence that Grant gloried in carnage, was insensitive to death and suffering, and was an incompetent chief executive.
Actually Grant was one of the most exquisitiely sensitive men ever born and was nothing like the 'butcher' that McFeely describes. However, the research in the book is quite good and there are very few factual errors to be found, though his chapters on the civil war are relatuvely weak. This contrasts markedly to Geoffrey Perret's 1997 Grant biography, which contained inaccuracies on nearly every page. McFeely is most solid in the period of Reconstruction, though he is usually overly prone to criticize the hapless Grant. Throughout many chapters, it seems the General can't buy a break.
McFeely's greatest admiration for Grant is contained in two areas of his life: his family relationships, specifically his loving marriage to wife Julia, and his abilities as a writer. McFeely leaves no doubt that he regards Grant's 1885 Memoirs as one of the great books ever written and the best part of this biography is in explaining the processes Grant used to produce such a masterpiece, while dying of throat cancer.
With its flaws and uneven treatment of Grant, McFeely's book cannot be considered definitive, but it is still the only complete biography of Grant written in the past 30 years. Perret's limping entry isn't even in the same league as this book, in accuracy, writing or research. To sum up: overly critical, but a must read for Civil War buffs.
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This is one seriously irritating book. There may be relatively few factual errors (at least, compared to Geoffrey Perret's work on Grant, a masterpiece of unintentional humor,) but McFeely's work is riddled with what I can only believe are deliberately insulting mischaracterizations and misrepresentations, tiresomely pretentious writing, and amateur psychoanalyzing of the most obnoxious sort. McFeely is particularly fond of quoting the words of Grant or his wife on some matter or another, and then proclaiming that--no matter how clear their meaning may have been to us poor dumb non-historians--what they were REALLY saying and thinking was something else altogether. If there is anything I can't abide, it's a biographer who persists in reading a subject's mind and putting words into his or her mouth and thoughts into his or her head that were never said and never thought. McFeely not only obviously believes he is much smarter than Grant (hah!) but more percipient than his readership, as well.
If this book is worthy of a Pulitzer, then I trust my next grocery shopping list will earn me a Nobel Prize for Literature.
By J. Carlson
Format:Paperback
That about says it all---this book is sufficient in details without getting too tedious. A well written account of this good general but somewhat inept, scandal-ridden, wishy-washy president who might have been a great one if his friend Rawlins lived for his two terms in office and kept him to his guns.
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3.4 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
An objective look at Grant--with all his many faces
William S. McFeely's book Grant attempts to be an objective look at the life of one of the most well-known of US generals. Read more
Published on Mar 25 2003 by bixodoido
4.0 out of 5 stars
An objective look at Grant--with all his many faces
William S. McFeely's book Grant attempts to be an objective look at the life of one of the most well-known of US generals. Read more
Published on Mar 25 2003 by bixodoido
4.0 out of 5 stars
A balanced account of a great general, but poor president
The best attribute of this book is the manner in which the author allows the reader to explore the human drama of Grant's life. Read more
Published on Mar 17 2002 by Darryl L. Walker
4.0 out of 5 stars
True to Grant, this biography is straight forward,
with no pretense & easy to understand. It is also a whole life biography rather than the well trod grounds of Grant, the general or Grant, the president. Read more
Published on Dec 12 2001 by JOHN GODFREY
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book about Grant's entire life
The great stregnth of this book is that McFeeley remembers that Grant had a lfe after the Civil War and devotes much space to Grant's presidency and and post presidential life. Read more
Published on Oct 13 2001 by David E. Levine
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well-written and Interesting
Grant neo-phytes may hate this book for its faults (and there are faults in some conclusion McFeely makes), but there are few histories of Grant which are as lively or informative... Read more
Published on Jun 7 2000 by Brad Penrith
1.0 out of 5 stars
Very Poor
Well wrtten but its supposed to be history not literature.Conclusions reached show either a complete lack of understanding of military history or a complete lack of understanding... Read more
Published on May 30 1999
4.0 out of 5 stars
A grudging nod to excellence
McFeely won the Pulitzer Prize for this book in 1982, but the conclusions he reaches about his subject have drawn fire ever since. Read more
Published on May 8 1998 by Candace Scott
4.0 out of 5 stars
An outstanding work--especially on the post-Civil War era.
As the author of a book on the Civil War and another on the Reconstruction era, I highly recommend McFeely's biography of Grant. Read more
Published on April 25 1997
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