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Grant
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 48 hrs and 2 mins
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Editorial reviews
Editors Select, October 2017
I always thought Grant was a mediocre general and a lackluster president. I now know how wrong I was! As a general, Grant was the epitome of military strategy and preparedness; after all, the Civil War didn’t win itself. As president, Grant strove to heal the nation’s rifts after the Civil War, using federal power to try to crush the KKK. Ron Chernow tells a fascinating tale of one man’s ever-present humanity against the backdrop of far-reaching historic events. Mark Bramhall’s energetic performance makes the audiobook fly. Thank you, President Grant, for all you did to stop the horrors of Reconstruction; I stand corrected. —Christina, Audible Editor
Publisher's summary
The #1 New York Times bestseller and New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2017
“Eminently readable but thick with import . . . Grant hits like a Mack truck of knowledge.”—Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic
Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Chernow returns with a sweeping and dramatic portrait of one of our most compelling generals and presidents, Ulysses S. Grant.
Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and an inept businessman, or as the triumphant but brutal Union general of the Civil War. But these stereotypes don't come close to capturing him, as Chernow shows in his masterful biography, the first to provide a complete understanding of the general and president whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency.
Before the Civil War, Grant was flailing. His business ventures had ended dismally, and despite distinguished service in the Mexican War he ended up resigning from the army in disgrace amid recurring accusations of drunkenness. But in war, Grant began to realize his remarkable potential, soaring through the ranks of the Union army, prevailing at the battle of Shiloh and in the Vicksburg campaign, and ultimately defeating the legendary Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Along the way, Grant endeared himself to President Lincoln and became his most trusted general and the strategic genius of the war effort. Grant’s military fame translated into a two-term presidency, but one plagued by corruption scandals involving his closest staff members.
More important, he sought freedom and justice for black Americans, working to crush the Ku Klux Klan and earning the admiration of Frederick Douglass, who called him “the vigilant, firm, impartial, and wise protector of my race.” After his presidency, he was again brought low by a dashing young swindler on Wall Street, only to resuscitate his image by working with Mark Twain to publish his memoirs, which are recognized as a masterpiece of the genre.
With lucidity, breadth, and meticulousness, Chernow finds the threads that bind these disparate stories together, shedding new light on the man whom Walt Whitman described as “nothing heroic... and yet the greatest hero.” Chernow’s probing portrait of Grant's lifelong struggle with alcoholism transforms our understanding of the man at the deepest level. This is America's greatest biographer, bringing movingly to life one of our finest but most underappreciated presidents. The definitive biography, Grant is a grand synthesis of painstaking research and literary brilliance that makes sense of all sides of Grant's life, explaining how this simple Midwesterner could at once be so ordinary and so extraordinary.
Named one of the best books of the year by Goodreads • Amazon • The New York Times • Newsday • BookPage • Barnes and Noble • Wall Street Journal
Critic reviews
“This is a good time for Ron Chernow’s fine biography of Ulysses S. Grant to appear . . . 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 . . . 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 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. If we still believe in forming a more perfect union, his steady and courageous example is more valuable than ever.”—Bill Clinton, New York Times Book Review
“Grant is vast and panoramic in ways that history buffs will love. Books of its caliber by writers of Chernow’s stature are rare, and this one qualifies as a major event . . . . Chernow is clearly out to find undiscovered nobility in his story, and he succeeds; he also finds uncannily prescient tragedy. There are ways in which Grant’s times eerily resemble our own . . . Indispensable.”—The New York Times
“Chernow tells all this rapidly and well; his talent is suited to Grant’s story . . . He is extraordinarily good on what could be called, unpejoratively, the Higher Gossip of History—he can uncannily detect the actual meaning beneath social interactions . . . Fluent and intelligent.”—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker
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A New Campaign to Reasses Grant
- By Mark on 11-02-16
By: Ronald C. White
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366 Days in Abraham Lincoln's Presidency
- The Private, Political, and Military Decisions of America's Greatest President
- By: Stephen Wynalda
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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For the first time ever, the intimate thoughts and political decisions of Abraham Lincoln’s entire presidency - day by day. In a startlingly innovative format, journalist Stephen A. Wynalda has constructed a painstakingly detailed day-by-day breakdown of president Abraham Lincoln’s decisions in office - including his signing of the Homestead Act on May 20, 1862; his signing of the legislation enacting the first federal income tax on August 5, 1861; and more personal incidents like the day his 11-year-old son, Willie, died.
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Great for listening!
- By J. R. Davis on 02-12-18
By: Stephen Wynalda
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Jefferson Davis
- The Man and His Hour
- By: William C. Davis
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 30 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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This book paints a vivid picture of Jefferson Davis as a multifaceted, often charismatic man who mirrored the turbulent times in which he lived and who stood solidly for the South that he loved. Ranging over the complete span of his long life, it shows him as a hardworking Mississippi planter, a compassionate slave owner, a hero of the Mexican War, and an able secretary of war under Franklin Pierce. But it is on the years of the Civil War and Davis’s controversial performance as president of the Confederacy that the book focuses.
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Could be more generous
- By margot on 06-12-13
By: William C. Davis
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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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Our One Common Country
- Abraham Lincoln and the Hampton Roads Peace Conference of 1865
- By: James B. Conroy
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Our One Common Country explores the most critical meeting of the Civil War. Given short shrift or overlooked by many historians, the Hampton Roads Conference of 1865 was a crucial turning point in the War between the States. In this well written and highly documented book, James B. Conroy describes in fascinating detail what happened when leaders from both sides came together to try to end the hostilities. The meeting was meant to end the fighting on peaceful terms.
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Exhaustively researched and engagingly written.
- By Jean on 08-19-15
By: James B. Conroy
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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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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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1864
- Lincoln at the Gates of History
- By: Charles Bracelen Flood
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 19 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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At the beginning of 1864, the Civil War was far from won; terrible and bloody Union setbacks and casualties lay ahead. Abraham Lincoln was facing a re-election battle as some northern Democrats were ready to start peace talks that could leave the Confederacy a separate slaveholding American nation and as his secretary of the treasury, Salmon P. Chase, challenged him for the Republican nomination. But by the end of the year, the war's end was in sight, and slavery was on the verge of extinction.
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A masterful and necessary book!
- By 9S on 12-03-09
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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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A Wicked War
- Polk, Clay, Lincoln and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico
- By: Amy S. Greenberg
- Narrated by: Caroline Shaffer
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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A Wicked War presents the definitive history of the 1846 war between the United States and Mexico - a conflict that turned America into a continental power. Amy Greenberg describes the battles between American and Mexican armies, but also delineates the political battles between Democrats and Whigs - the former led by the ruthless Polk, the latter by the charismatic Henry Clay and a young representative from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln. Greenberg brilliantly recounts this key chapter in the creation of the United States authority and narrative flair.
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Rubbish Historical Work, Lots of Fake Stuff
- By Jose on 04-28-17
By: Amy S. Greenberg
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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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Lincoln and the Fight for Peace
- By: John Avlon
- Narrated by: John Avlon
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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As the tide of the Civil War turned in the spring of 1865, Abraham Lincoln took a dangerous two-week trip to visit the troops on the front lines accompanied by his young son, seeing combat up close, meeting liberated slaves in the ruins of Richmond, and comforting wounded Union and Confederate soldiers.
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Gets a little repetitive.
- By John on 03-06-22
By: John Avlon
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Andrew Jackson
- His Life and Times
- By: H.W. Brands
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 25 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The extraordinary story of Andrew Jackson—the colorful, dynamic, and forceful president who ushered in the Age of Democracy and set a still young America on its path to greatness—told by the bestselling author of The First American.
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Very Thorough
- By Eric on 02-07-06
By: H.W. Brands
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Presidents of War
- By: Michael Beschloss
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 26 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Ten years in the research and writing, Presidents of War is a fresh, magisterial, intimate look at a procession of American leaders as they took the nation into conflict and mobilized their country for victory. It brings us into the room as they make the most difficult decisions that face any president, at times sending hundreds of thousands of American men and women to their deaths.
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Heads up: Chapters are out of order
- By Barefoot on 10-18-18
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The Coming Fury
- The Centennial History of the Civil War, Volume 1
- By: Bruce Catton
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 20 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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> The New York Times hailed this trilogy as “one of the greatest historical accomplishments of our time”. With stunning detail and insights, America’s foremost Civil War historian recreates the war from its opening months to its final, bloody end. Each volume delivers a complete listening experience. The Coming Fury (Volume 1) covers the split Democratic Convention in the spring of 1860 to the first battle of Bull Run.
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History As It Should Be
- By Bryan on 07-19-11
By: Bruce Catton
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A deeply private man, shut off even to those who worked closely with him, Abraham Lincoln often captured “his best thoughts", as he called them, in short notes to himself. He would work out his personal stances on the biggest issues of the day, never expecting anyone to see these pieces of writing, which he’d then keep close at hand, in desk drawers and even in his top hat. The profound importance of these notes has been overlooked, because the originals are scattered across several different archives and have never before been brought together and examined as a coherent whole.
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I thought I knew the battle of the frontiers
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My Fellow Soldiers
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Andrew Carroll's intimate portrait of General Pershing, who led all of the American troops in Europe during World War I, is a revelation. Given a military force that on the eve of its entry into the war was downright primitive compared to the European combatants, the general surmounted enormous obstacles to build an army and ultimately command millions of US soldiers. But Pershing himself - often perceived as a harsh, humorless, and wooden leader - concealed inner agony from those around him.
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Don’t pass this up
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What listeners say about Grant
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-25-17
Excellent Book (BUT WHERE IS THE PDF FILES)????
I really enjoyed this book. The only thing that would make this book better would be the PDF file like some of the other books. Second book, I have bought without a PDF lately. Please give us readers PDF files to see maps, and other important information such as dates and names spelling etc.
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- Amanda 📚
- 10-18-17
Ron Chernow should be writing for our schools
I want to first give the Narrator, Mark Bramhall, much credit. He did such a great job creating voices for all characters - it made it super easy for me to follow along (at work...shh...don't tell anyone...) & very enjoyable (I am not a major 'books on tape' fan - I like to hold an actual book). I found myself searching all books he narrated and purchasing them.
Ron Chernow did such an amazing detailed job in the life of Grant - that I feel like I know him. There are so many small accounts noted in his life, that it makes you like him & respect him even more. I appreciate the first 6 hours into it talking more in depth of his life, his family, his in-laws, how he felt, etc. I wanted to 'know' Grant more than the Civil War General and President.
During my recent trip to DC, Virginia & Gettysburg = I was told many personal stories (and seen the artifacts) by the staff at each destination of many persons in regards to this war. My mouth was open most of this trip due to all the details I was learning about everything and everyone - I was shocked. I was obsessed with the Civil War, WWII and Vietnam in school and thought I knew much....Nope! This book is the sort of thing I believe we all need to learn in History classes. It brings that time era, the circumstances, and one man's journey thru this all to life.
I truly hope he writes a book on Robert E. Lee next
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- Darwin8u
- 02-11-18
Raise a glass to Grant
"When did [Grant] ever turn back? He was not that sort; he could no more turn back than time!"
- Walt Whitman, quoted in Ron Chernow, Grant
Ron Chernow delights in writing about complicated American Icons and money men. It might seem odd that Chernow would chose Grant after writing about Washinton, Hamilton, John D. Rockefeller, the Morgans and the Warburgs, but Chernow also loves rehabilitative writing. Just look at what his biography of Hamilton did (helped out mightily by Lin-Manuel Miranda). Grant is a great subject to write about. He is a complicated man, with an interesting story, surrounded by a slew of fascinating characters. Chernow is also one of my favorite US biographers. He isn't quite as high up the biographer Olympus as Caro (who is really?), but is consistently better IMHO than McCullough, Meacham, and Ellis (among the Costco-selling blockbuster biographers). Perhaps, the proper place for Chernow is next to Doris Kearns Goodwin, David Herbert Donald, and Edmund Morris.
This year has seen two massive Grant biographies. I'm planning on reading Ronald C. White's 864 page biography sometime in the last 1/3 of 2018. This summer, I will also attempt to read Grant's own Memoirs this summer. So, I might have to come back and revise my review after reading White and Grant. For now, let me just say that Grant should probably be viewed as a great American (top 10), and mediocre president (25-30). It is, however, difficult to imagine any president emerging out of the post Civil War/Reconstruction/Johnson years with any huge levels of success. The hostilities of the South to Reconstruction, and black engagement in the economic and political spheres practically divided the nation again, post Civil War. Northern Republicans also seemed exhauted by the horrors of Reconstruction, and largely abandoned blacks. But Grant, despite his failings in many spheres, bravely fought for the legal and voting rights of the newly freed slaves longer than almost any of his peers during that time would have. But Grant was complicated. His blind trust and reliance on old friends, and lack of experience in politics and business, bit him hard and lead to several large scandals during both terms and after his presidency.
Chernow avoids turning this book into a hagiography, but only just. Clearly Chernow thinks Grant's reputation gets hammered too hard for his scandals and drinking and not enough time is spent on his successes (foreign policy, fighting the KKK, etc). My other mild criticism of Chernow, besides a clear resurrectionist bent, is skimming quickly over the financial and economic implications related to the gold standard debate (see Mehrsa Bahadaran's review) and subsequent Long Depression of 1873–79. I find it fascinating that a writer (Chernow) with a background in heavy in financial writing and thinking (he was once the director of financial policy studies with the Twentieth Century Fund), tends to bore easily with the major financial issues of Grant's tenure.
But overall, I loved the book. I loved the sections on Reconstruction and was surprised to learn details about Longstreet, Lee, and Sherman that I didn't know before. I was happy to devote a week to reading it.
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- Fountain of Chris
- 10-15-17
Magnificent Chernow
I have now listened to the last three biographies by Ron Chernow, and he has cemented his place as my favorite biographer, in both style and substance. Grant was, admittedly, a bit lower on my list of biographies to get to...until I found out Chernow had one coming out. I raced through it in 5 days of listening at 2-2.5x and urge all lovers of comprehensive biographies to consider this book. Partially due to the subjects, expect it to more closely relate to Washington: A Life, than to Hamilton.
The narrator does a very good job, my only complaint being that I don't like accents performed during quotes of non-fiction books. He was very clear through 2.5x
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- Cliff
- 10-18-17
I had no idea!
Wow! I had no idea that U. S. Grant was this important to civil rights let alone U.S. history! This was an amazing listen, and I can't recommend it strongly enough.
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- Derek
- 10-15-17
The Ultimate Grant Biography by the Ultimate Biographer - Chernow’s Best Yet!
I thought I knew about U.S. Grant before reading this biography and I was wrong! The arch of Grant’s life story is well known, but there are many gaps in other biographies. Ron Chernow masterfully fills in the missing details from many sources to create a rich story that captures the human side of a man referred to by both his friends and enemies as a sphinx. This is his best biography yet!
I walked away feeling as if I personally knew Grant, his challenges, decisions, successes and failures. I feel a new respect and admiration for his courage and quest to do what is right. The author emphasizes the General’s good faith efforts to help the downtrodden that are so often overlooked. He was victorious in many battles, but his honorable approach to freed slaves, Native Americans and people in distress make him worthy of being called a hero. Grant is truly the most misunderstood president!
The narration is solid despite the fact that a lot of things can go awry in 50 hours. I get irritated when narrators botch names and places as it messes up the flow of the story. I was impressed that Mark Bramhall was able to get the pronunciations correct unlike the majority of narrators of Civil War titles on Audible.
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- Lucky Lucas
- 11-11-17
AWESOME BIOGRAPHY!
I thoroughly enjoyed all 1,047 pages and wished there were more. What a labor of love by Mr Chernow. His voluminous research included newspaper clippings, diaries from various people including Julia Grant, journals, war correspondence and actual quotes from Grant's friends, Union and Confederate soldiers, Congressional hearings, and former and future Presidents. I learned so much about this remarkable man, through his many miseries and joys, that I have a better understanding that his whole life was truly a trial.
Mr Mark Branhall's narration was spot on. He tirelessly read the story, with perfect inflections...To Me. Several times I felt myself in the room with Grant, his wife and children and his colleagues. I laughed and cried with them. I heard the cannons roaring on early mornings in Vicksburg. I felt the spring air as it drifted by Grant and myself as we walked to the White House.
This is definitely a book that you will live through. Please don't miss the experience.
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- Hill
- 11-03-17
Bringing Grant to life.
I am not a military person but I often wondered why politicians and others think they know how to fight a war better than a trained military person. I also wondered why wars were always fought by tradition. Grant understood how to fight a war. It isn't pretty and there isn't really a half way to fight one. How a man can work and live in an environment of jealousy that Grant did for years is a true mark as to his personal metal.
The civil war started out being about one thing then grew into something much larger. From the start it was to stop the secession then it grew into emancipation of the slaves. That was a giant step for a lot of people north and south. Grant may have understood this and was able to handle it much better than most of the people including the ones who initiated it. What emancipation did to influence the work force and economy was a staggering issue that few had thought out. Grant may have had his finger on the issue from day one. The way he tried to incorporate the freed slaves into useful work was really a huge step in the emancipation process. He understood it wasn't enough to free the slaves but how are they going to survive without jobs or places to live.
The way Grant had to fight the politicians as well as the confederate army's would drive anyone to drink. The profiteers may have been the worse thing about the civil war. They wrecked the south for generations. The war fought between solders but the profiteers took advantage of the general population. Grant understood this and seemed to do his very level best to fight it.
I had always heard that Grant was a terrible president, really by whose standards? He was the only president to serve two full terms between Jackson and Wilson. That says something right there. They said his presidency was riddled with scandals. Ok which presidents isn't? I know we elect presidents all the time who seem be inept. After listening to Chernow's Grant I got the feeling that Grant's only real problem was that he trusted people and looked tor the good in them even when they took advantage of him at every turn.
Really a fine read every bit as good as Hamilton.
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- M. W.
- 10-24-17
Tremendous biography of Grant
This is a very thorough, comprehensive, and balanced biography of Ulysses Grant. In my opinion, this is now the high bar against which all other biographies of Grant are to be measured.
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- darlys
- 10-23-17
Ranks at the top of best biographies
I learned so much from this book. Impeccable research and writing. Superb, exquisite narration. Highly recommend!
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