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American Ulysses
- A Life of Ulysses S. Grant
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 27 hrs and 35 mins
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Publisher's summary
A major new biography of the Civil War general and American president, by the author of the New York Times bestseller A. Lincoln. The dramatic story of one of America's greatest and most misunderstood military leaders and presidents, this is a major new interpretation of Ulysses S. Grant. Based on 7 years of research with primary documents, some of them never tapped before, this is destined to become the Grant biography of our times.
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Performance
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Crucible of Command
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Plutarch looks at Grant and Lee ...
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- Abridged
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"We were as brothers," William Tecumseh Sherman said, describing his relationship with Ulysses S. Grant. They were incontestably two of the most important figures in the Civil War, but until now there has been no book about their victorious partnership and the deep friendship that made it possible.
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Superb History
- By Brad LaMorgese on 01-24-11
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A World on Fire
- Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War
- By: Amanda Foreman
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 32 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Even before the first rumblings of secession shook the halls of Congress, British involvement in the coming schism was inevitable. Britain was dependent on the South for cotton, and in turn the Confederacy relied almost exclusively on Britain for guns, bullets, and ships. The Union sought to block any diplomacy between the two and consistently teetered on the brink of war with Britain. For four years the complex web of relationships between the countries led to defeats and victories both minute and history-making.
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excellent narrative history
- By Daniel on 08-15-11
By: Amanda Foreman
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Union 1812
- The Americans Who Fought the Second War of Independence
- By: A. J. Langguth
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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This dramatic account of the War of 1812 fills a surprising gap in the popular literature of the nation's formative years. It is this war, followed closely on the War of Independence, that established the young nation as a permanent power and proved its claim to Manifest Destiny.
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Fantastic narrative history
- By Tad on 03-22-12
By: A. J. Langguth
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Custer's Trials
- A Life on the Frontier of a New America
- By: T.J. Stiles
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 23 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for History. In this magisterial biography, T. J. Stiles paints a portrait of Custer both deeply personal and sweeping in scope, proving how much of Custer’s legacy has been ignored. He demolishes Custer’s historical caricature, revealing a volatile, contradictory, intense person - capable yet insecure, intelligent yet bigoted, passionate yet self-destructive, a romantic individualist at odds with the institution of the military (he was court-martialed twice in six years).
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Custer and his times
- By Mike From Mesa on 11-17-15
By: T.J. Stiles
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The Man Who Would Not Be Washington
- Robert E. Lee's Civil War and His Decision that Changed American History
- By: Jonathan Horn
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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On the eve of the Civil War, one soldier embodied the legacy of George Washington and the hopes of a divided land. Both North and South knew Robert E. Lee as the son of Washington's most famous eulogist and the son-in-law of Washington's adopted child. Each side sought his services for high command. Lee could choose only one. The decision he made would change history.
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A breath of unbiased truth!
- By M. bridges on 07-04-16
By: Jonathan Horn
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General Ulysses S. Grant
- The Soldier and the Man
- By: Edward G. Longacre
- Narrated by: Jonathan Walker
- Length: 13 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Despite his reputation for rash decisions, brutal tactics, and intemperate behavior, Ulysses S. Grant was the only Union general who could win the war for Lincoln. Grant's aggressive strategies, swift movements and uncompromising battlefield attacks were praised in the North, feared in the South, and reviled by many of his own associates and staff. General Grant is, perhaps, one of the most controversial, enigmatic, and misunderstood generals in our nation's history.
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Good Biography
- By Morgan on 07-14-11
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Robert E. Lee
- By: Emory M. Thomas
- Narrated by: Richard Davidson
- Length: 22 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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With absorbing power, Emory M. Thomas tells the story of one of the most revered figures in American history. A story of triumph and tragedy, this stunning biography provides a fascinating glimpse at the man behind the Civil War legend. Revealing the "whole" Lee in this enthralling, detailed saga, Thomas portrays him as a man driven by the paradoxes in his own personality. Here is the Lee who is both a legend and a man. Heroic and larger than life in battle; insecure and unfulfilled in private life.
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Robert E. Lee by Emory M. Thomas
- By Ray on 08-08-13
By: Emory M. Thomas
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The Burning of the White House
- James and Dolley Madison and the War of 1812
- By: Jane Hampton Cook
- Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Told from multiple points of view - including those of James and Dolley Madison and a British admiral - this is the true story of the burning of the White House in 1814. It's unimaginable today, even for a generation that saw the Twin Towers fall and the Pentagon attacked. It's unimaginable because in 1814, enemies didn't fly overhead; they marched through the streets, and for 26 hours in August, the British enemy marched through Washington, DC, and set fire to government buildings, including the US Capitol and the White House.
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Written Like a Children's Book. Boring.
- By Mike on 01-20-17
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Team of Rivals
- The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
- By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 41 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry. Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war.
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Beautiful, Heartbreaking, and Informative
- By JJ on 09-10-12
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The New York Times: Disunion
- Modern Historians Revisit and Reconsider the Civil War from Lincoln's Election to the Emancipation Proclamation
- By: Ted Widmer - editor
- Narrated by: Jennifer Van Dyck, Mark Boyett, Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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A major new collection of modern commentary - from scholars, historians, and Civil War buffs - on the significant events of the Civil War, culled from The New York Times' popular Disunion online journal.
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Excellent audiobook! Love this format!
- By BVerité on 03-17-15
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A sad day when my book was done!
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In Robert E. Lee, the award-winning historian Allen Guelzo has written the definitive biography of the general, following him from his refined upbringing in Virginia high society, to his long career in the U.S. Army, his agonized decision to side with Virginia when it seceded from the Union, and his leadership during the Civil War. Above all, Guelzo captures Robert E. Lee in all his complexity--his hypocrisy and courage, his outward calm and inner turmoil, his honor and his disloyalty.
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Unfortunately falls into judging Lee like CNN
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From Manassas to Appomattox
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The memoirs of Lieutenant-General James Longstreet contains much of historical interest. He provides a personal account of the progress of the Civil War, plus a wealth of anecdotes about Robert E Lee and his officers. Longstreet was the commander of the Confederate Army's First Corps, which fought through most of the major wartime campaigns.
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What listeners say about American Ulysses
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Mark
- 11-02-16
A New Campaign to Reasses Grant
If you could sum up American Ulysses in three words, what would they be?
Compelling, Penetrating, Fair
What did you like best about this story?
White has enough confidence in his research and ultimately his discernment to render the story in a straight-forward manner that might have pleased its subject. White doesn't besiege the reader with footnotes, counterpoints or what-ifs, instead placing the reader in that time and place, with Grant.
Which scene was your favorite?
The breakout towards Jackson during the Vicksburg Campaign. White is able to capture the intensity and pressures bearing down on Grant, and when, at last, Grant's forces move east when their target lay west, the reader gains a sense of Grant's audacity, nerve and will.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
I am very familiar with the details of Grant's life and times from other biographies and histories. Yet there is cumulative power in White's writing and his description of Grant's last "campaign" at the close of his life was more moving than any other treatment I had encountered.
Any additional comments?
Any author attempting a comprehensive biography of such a momentous figure has to make choices about length and depth of detail. White's concentration is on the prominent figures on the Union side, and there is a nutshell quality to his descriptions of Grant's adversaries (even Lee). Ultimately that's a justified treatment of the vanquished. White briefly discusses Grant's long banishment into the historical wilderness, as his reputation declined and languished after his death, but White misses an opportunity to explore the context of the ongoing struggle by many to preserve the most imperfect aspects of the United States that led to the war and which continue to trouble the nation on the low boil. The most eye-opening aspect of the book was the depth of Grant's commitment to the rights and protection of the freedmen. If he was late getting there, his absolute, unshakable resolve on this point caused me to seriously reassess his presidency, and gave me a greater appreciation of his remarkable character.
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- Michael J. Nardotti, Jr.
- 11-05-16
An Absolutely Superb Work
This is the most insightful and instructive biography I have ever read. Not only does it give overdue credit to a truly great military leader and president and genuinely kind and humble man of extraordinary accomplishment, but it also provides the reader of a more complete and compelling picture of the monumental challenges faced by the nation and it's leader following the Civil War and it's aftermath. This work is must read history.
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- Mike From Mesa
- 11-16-18
Absolutely wonderful.
I was uncertain about buying this book since I had already read all the volumes of Grant's autobiography as well as quite a few books about Grant's and Sherman's campaigns during the Civil War and I feared that purchasing it would be a waste of my time and money. I was wrong.
When I was in public school the history classes that covered the Civil War referred to Grant as a poor commander, someone who wasted human lives and only won because of the overwhelming numbers of Federal troops, and that was a view I carried with me as I became an adult, and it only began to change as I started to read newer books covering the war. Shelby Foote's multi-volume history made me start to believe that perhaps what I had been taught in school was wrong and, as I read more and more books about the campaigns in the West, I became increasingly convinced that my what I thought I knew of Grant and his generalship was wrong, and badly so.
American Ulysses is so well written that in spite of all I had previously read about Grant and his campaigns my interest never flagged and I found it difficult to stop listening. Arthur Morey's narration is so well suited to the material that time flew as I listened to the book and I found myself looking forward to listening to more the next day. The book is more of a biography than a retelling of the battles of the war and the narrative never gets bogged down in military details of how the battle progressed, but still manages to cover what happened and why.
A large part of the book covers Grant's life after Appomattox, his issues with the Johnson administration and his two terms as President and covers his efforts to insure that those freed by the Civil War were able to exercise their rights as citizens. All of this was new to me as it was never covered in my public school classes and was not in any of the Civil War books I read, but Grant was committed to insuring real freedom and citizenship for those freed by the war and his battles to try to insure the former slaves their freedom is covered in detail, as are the reasons for the failure of that effort.
Perhaps the most poignant parts of the book cover the period of his life when this man, so able to sort the wheat from the chaff in his generals, failed to see how he was taken advantage of by those he trusted. Mr White, and history, have shown that although Grant's administration was plagued by financial scandals, he himself was never touched by a hint of those scandals and left office with his honor and honesty intact. The final scandal, which bankrupted him, again involved those he trusted and his actions in trying to repay those debts that fell on him, only again proves how honest a man he was.
This is a wonderful biography, full of information new to me, wonderfully written and wonderfully narrated, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in General Grant and his life.
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48 people found this helpful
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- Joecool
- 10-29-16
WOW
I feel I have been shielded from an important piece of American history till now
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- Mark
- 11-15-16
Inspirational, page-turning history
I loved this biography of Ulysses S Grant. Grant came alive as a person in the early chapters, both growing up, and in his West Point years. His life story is fascinating from start to end, through the Civil War, and his presidency in the tumultuous post-war period. The writing in this bio is great, and I never knew what a heroic man Grant was. Grant is best known for his military genius, and this book captures that well. Grant was a man of courage and integrity throughout his life, and he inspired me as a leader who was ahead of his time as a passionate advocate of civil rights. This biography captured his family life well, but I wanted to know more about how he dealt with marrying the daughter of a slave owner from St. Louis. The years of his presidency focused mostly on the politics of the day, which was fascinating but less personal than the other years of his life. This was a long book, but most of it was totally engaging, and all of it was so informative. The connections to politics today jumped from the page. After listening to this, I have a new American hero. This book was emotionally and intellectually engaging - a great combo.
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- Agent J
- 12-08-16
A True All American
Sadly, the significance of Grant is somewhat shadowed in history by Lincoln. I'm the better for listening to this book. Fantastic book and narrator.
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- jmac
- 01-28-17
Hard To Follow Without the Written Book Available
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
You really need the written book available as reference, otherwise it just gets too complicated to follow from listening. The names, dates, and places gets confusing, especially without maps, tables, or diagrams, unless you are already know them by heart. I had the same problem with Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, it was a great audiobook but I constantly needed to refer to the written book which I bought soon after starting the audiobook.
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
A great history of Grant!
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- Jay
- 11-08-16
A great man and a great book.
One of the most poignant biographies I have read of a great man, general and presidents.
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- Tad Davis
- 10-11-17
A much-needed reassessment
Arthur Morey is the perfect narrator for this fine biography of one of America's least appreciated heroes. Ronald White has followed up his portrait of Abraham Lincoln with a detailed and engaging portrait of the man who made Lincoln's policies a reality.
Grant's excellence as a general has been getting more recognition lately: he defeated Lee (and the other Confederate armies) not simply by overwhelming numbers, but by a clearly thought out strategy - and by a refusal to act like a defeated general.
His presidency is less appreciated, and to some extent it was Grant's fault. He was a man of sterling personal integrity, so much so that he was sometimes unable to recognize corrupt behavior, especially when one of his trusted aides from the war years was involved.
Grant declared his intention to reform "Indian affairs," and he did try, but the results were mixed. He appointed new governors and new agents, yet some of the worst of the massacres happened on his watch. He seemed unable or unwilling to fully wrest the direction of Indian affairs from military hands; and he doesn't seem to have made a serious effort to restrain Philip Sheridan. The end result was more poverty, misery, and death for Native Americans.
His tutor on foreign policy was his Secretary of State Hamilton Fish. Together they managed to produce a treaty with Great Britain that settled all outstanding issues between the two countries, including the vexed question of British-built warships that were owned and operated by the Confederacy. This was a political achievement of no small magnitude, because Charles Sumner, Senate leader, was in complete opposition.
One of Grant's foreign policy goals failed. He wanted to annex Santo Domingo, making it a haven for freed slaves and a beacon of freedom in a slave-dominated Caribbean. In this, he had the support of ardent abolitionists like Frederick Douglass - but not Sumner. Ultimately Grant chose to fold on this because it was interfering with the negotiations with Britain.
One of his major achievements in domestic policy was his fight against the Ku Klux Klan. This terrorist organization had murdered hundreds if not thousands of black citizens, especially those insisting on their right to vote. Grant, perceiving that state and local governments were unwilling to take this on, asked for and received from Congress the authority to suspend habeas corpus and send in troops to enforce the law. Wielding the newly created Department of Justice as a weapon, he began dismantling the Klan and indicting thousands of its members. In this, he was often opposed by a Republican Party more interested in reforming civil service than in enforcing civil rights.
On the strength of his achievements in this first term, Grant was reelected in 1872 with 56 percent of the vote and an overwhelming majority in the Electoral College.
Sadly, there were more scandals. The Whiskey Ring cheated the government out of millions in tax revenue. There was massive corruption in the Interior Department. There was a kickback scheme at the War Department. Through all of this, Grant remained oblivious to the greed and corruption that surrounded him. He did not run for a third term, and the skulduggery surrounding the election of 1876 ended up negating many of the gains Grant had made in the area of civil rights.
Grant's return to private life also turned out badly. He allied himself with an investment banker who turned out to be keeping two sets of books — one for Grant and one for himself. The head of the firm tried to abscond with the funds, and Grant was left with the spare change in his pocket and a humiliating loss of face. To earn money, he began writing articles about the war. This grew into plans for a memoir, and this in turn drew him into the orbit of Mark Twain. Twain negotiated a generous deal with Grant for royalties on the book.
As he was writing his memoirs, in the hope of restoring his family's fortunes, he was diagnosed with throat cancer. It was terminal, and the next few months were a race against time. Grant finished his manuscript just a few days before he died; a few months later, Twain was able to present Grant's wife with the largest royalty check ever written, close to half a million dollars.
Grant's reputation is climbing higher again as the country digs itself out of the "lost cause" mythology. There have been new biographies by Jean Edward Smith and H.W. Brands, and a deeply flawed attempt at reassessing Grant by Geoffrey Perret. As I write this, another Grant biography has just come out, by Ron Chernow, another master biographer. It will be interesting to compare notes.
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- Tim
- 12-12-20
Note to Self
If you don’t want to read the biography from Ron Chernow on Grant because it's a ginormous task to take on, then Ronald C. White, “American Ulysses” should be good enough to understand his life. I’ve forgotten that I read Chernow’s version and much of the information in the two books are the same and White’s writing is 21 hours shorter than the other one, but it is more dense with useful information.
Due to my forgetfulness and the thousands of titles that I’ve read in the past, I keep buying duplicates of the same biographies over and over. Note to self, I really should have a spreadsheet on the titles that I read before and try to remember what I just finished.
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