Overview

Sherman said, Grant is a mystery to me, and I believe he is a mystery to himself. Geoffrey Perret's absorbing biography offers new insights into Grant the commander and the president that would have astonished both his friends and his enemies. Based on extensive, previously unseen research, Perret explains for the first time how Grant's military genius ultimately triumphed as he created a new approach to battle. He shows how Grant was widely misunderstood and underrated as president because he was the first modern leader, presiding over a rich, industrialized America that had put slavery behind it and was struggling to provide racial justice for all. From a frontier boyhood to heroic war feats, from the presidency to his final battle to finish his Personal Memoirs, Grant's story is one of the most adventurous and moving in American history.

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9781433250255

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Reviews

What distinguishes this narrative are Perret's bristling style and his skillful blend of tactical analysis and conventional biography...A shrewd, if insistent, brief for Grant as his era's most imaginative and resourceful master of war. -- Kirkus Reviews An astute biographer, Perret, with his stylish talent for the entertaining turn of phrase...offers a more accessible portrait than did Grant's hitherto definitive biographer, William McFeely-one with more limpid prose and insightful psychological shading...nary an uninteresting page exists in this fluid, seamlessly written work. -- Booklist A mixture of academic and popular writing, and Lewis' reading communicates both of these aspects with great use of inflection and feeling. -- AudioFile [Perret's] reassessment of Grant as a politician is his biography's finest achievement...Grant emerges in this nuanced portrait as a quintessential American...Firmly situated in his time, he nonetheless seems a strikingly modern man. -- Amazon.com Review Thanks to Perret's own skill at exposing the inner dynamics of warfare, the reader comes to understand what actually happened on Civil War battlefields. His colorful and lucid accounts of military engagements...make Perret a worthy successor to Bruce Catton, James M. McPherson, and others who have captured the drama and tragedy of the Civil War. -- New York Times Book Review The Grant that emerges is astonishingly human...In lively prose, Perret delivers a vivid portrait of a resolute man in a tumultuous century, courageously and ceaselessly moving forward despite any setback. -- Boston Globe

What distinguishes this narrative are Perret's bristling style and his skillful blend of tactical analysis and conventional biography...A shrewd, if insistent, brief for Grant as his era's most imaginative and resourceful master of war. -- Kirkus Reviews An astute biographer, Perret, with his stylish talent for the entertaining turn of phrase...offers a more accessible portrait than did Grant's hitherto definitive biographer, William McFeely-one with more limpid prose and insightful psychological shading...nary an uninteresting page exists in this fluid, seamlessly written work. -- Booklist A mixture of academic and popular writing, and Lewis' reading communicates both of these aspects with great use of inflection and feeling. -- AudioFile [Perret's] reassessment of Grant as a politician is his biography's finest achievement...Grant emerges in this nuanced portrait as a quintessential American...Firmly situated in his time, he nonetheless seems a strikingly modern man. -- Amazon.com Review The Grant that emerges is astonishingly human...In lively prose, Perret delivers a vivid portrait of a resolute man in a tumultuous century, courageously and ceaselessly moving forward despite any setback. -- Boston Globe Thanks to Perret's own skill at exposing the inner dynamics of warfare, the reader comes to understand what actually happened on Civil War battlefields. His colorful and lucid accounts of military engagements...make Perret a worthy successor to Bruce Catton, James M. McPherson, and others who have captured the drama and tragedy of the Civil War. -- New York Times Book Review

Author Information

Geoffrey Perret served in the US Army from 1958 to 1961 and attended the University of Southern California, Harvard, and the University of California at Berkeley. His first book was the award-winning Days of Sadness, Years of Triumph, his account of America's home front during World War II. He is author of numerous other books. He lives in England but frequently visits the United States. Edward Lewis (a.k.a. David Hilder) is a stage, film, and television actor. He has narrated unabridged audiobooks for over eighteen years and has recorded more than two hundred titles, spanning works of fiction and nonfiction.

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