Books of its caliber by writers of Chernow’s stature are rare, and this one qualifies as a major event. Grant is vast and panoramic in ways that history buffs will love. There are ways in which Grant’s times eerily resemble our own. Read Full Review >Ĭhernow is clearly out to find undiscovered nobility in his story, and he succeeds he also finds uncannily prescient tragedy. If we still believe in forming a more perfect union, his steady and courageous example is more valuable than ever. As Americans continue the struggle to defend justice and equality in our tumultuous and divisive era, we need to know what Grant did when our country’s very existence hung in the balance.
Chernow shows a fine balance in exposing Grant’s flaws and missteps as president, and the ill-fated turn that Reconstruction took after a promising start, while making it clear that Grant’s contributions after Appomattox were as consequential to the survival of our democracy as any that came before. For all its scholarly and literary strengths, this book’s greatest service is to remind us of Grant’s significant achievements at the end of the war and after, which have too long been overlooked and are too important today to be left in the dark.
As history, it is remarkable, full of fascinating details sure to make it interesting both to those with the most cursory knowledge of Grant’s life and to those who have read his memoirs or any of several previous biographies. In so many ways Grant comes to us now as much a mirror as a history lesson.
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