![]() ![]() Ballard maintains, “he wrote it as he understood and lived it.” The reviewer does refer to “the accuracy, or lack thereof, of the memoirs,” yet emphasizes Grant’s “truth and fairness.” “He wrote the truth as he saw it,” constantly checking “to make sure what he wrote was factual,” and “there is no evidence Grant intentionally set out to ‘get’ anyone.” Criticisms of the Memoirs came from ex-Confederates, “Lost Cause propagandists,” and Grant’s enemies. Grant (November 2015 Civil War News Book Review), exemplifies the mind-set that my book, Grant Under Fire, so comprehensively opposes. Ballard’s review of Chris Mackowski’s Grant’s Last Battle: The Story Behind the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. A critique of the History Channel’s Ulysses S.Response to “The American Left Needs a History Lesson”.An expanded review of Chernow’s Grant biography.Book review: River of Death–The Chickamauga Campaign: Volume 1.Simpson: What Really Happened on Orchard Knob and at Missionary Ridge? Mike Maxwell on Myth & Mistake in U.S.Mike Maxwell on An aggressive George H.Mike Maxwell on A critique of the History Channel’s Ulysses S.They also effectively resurrected Grant’s image as the plain-spoken, modest soldier who not only saved the Union, but also reaffirmed the faith of the American people that common men drawn from among them were capable of uncommon accomplishment. ![]() The Memoirs generated for his wife, Julia Dent Grant, what was then the largest royalty check in history ($450,000, equivalent to $11 million today). They will also appreciate the well-constructed introduction that briefly chronicles how the Memoirs came into being.Īlthough he achieved at best a mixed success in his effort to counter the emerging Southern myth of the Lost Cause, Grant succeeded spectacularly in achieving his other goals. Readers will appreciate and be impressed by the extensive amount of information and commentary the editors provide in the footnotes on the various figures and events mentioned in the Memoirs. Yet the editors here do more than simply provide a welcome excuse to read this great work. This, after all, would be the case with nearly any edition of the Memoirs that has appeared since 1885, as its enduring importance can hardly be overstated. To say this book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Grant’s life through the end of the Civil War would of course be trite. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2017, $39.95 Grant: The Complete Annotated EditionĮdited by John F. Grant Presidential Library, succeed admirably in their own important work-namely, the most thoroughly annotated edition of The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Marszelak, executive director of the U.S. What Grant produced-with throat cancer having placed him at death’s door-was a work that, while assuredly worthy of the sort of scrutiny that all such works merit, deservedly won enduring recognition as a truly great work of American literature. Their considerable success in tarnishing Grant’s military reputation had to be countered. Moreover, by the 1880s Southern writers who sought to promulgate a myth of the Civil War that emphasized the Confederacy’s martial and moral superiority had been all too successful in their efforts. He also understood that his image needed repair because of his presidency’s association with Gilded Age tawdriness. In addition, Grant understood that he had won the admiration of the American people not simply because he won the Civil War, but also because of the style with which he conducted himself and his image as a simple soldier. When he began work on his memoirs, Grant had to repair his family’s finances, tattered by ill-advised investments. Grant: The Complete Annotated Edition Closeįew authors have been as successful in achieving what they set out to do as Ulysses S. Review | The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S.
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