If you are a history buff and have any interest in Presidents or the Civil War, this book is a “must read.” Mind you, 1000+ pages also means this will be a long read, but it is worth it
I have a ton more respect for U.S. Grant now than I ever did. He was a great general that got us out of the Civil War, but he was also wanted to do it as humanely as possible. He is often known as a “butcher” and threw thousands of soldiers into battles that were horrible, but he hated the killing.
What he did for General Lee’s officers at the surrender was incredibly kind and humane. He knew (like Lincoln) that we needed to heal the nation as well as bring the south back into the Union and you had to treat these rebels like the “cousins” and “family” that they were.
He did more for the African-Americans even than Lincoln did in many ways. Lincoln made it happen but Grant had to deal with the fallout and years of the KKK and the other southerners who made it difficult to create an economy in the south without slavery.
A truly amazing human who took too much abuse for his drinking. The author admits Grant had a drinking problem, but his enemies tried to make it out much worse than what it was, often fabricating stories to hurt his reputation.
He was also gullible to many people and lost money and all his possessions even because he believed all people were like him, truthful to a fault. He was not a good businessman and was literally a pauper after he was President because a friend had taken all his money, and his families money in a pyramid scheme.
Leave a Reply