Grant

By: Ron Chernow

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

Length: 48 hrs and 2 mins

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

©2017 Ron Chernow (P)2017 Penguin Audio

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

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.

Stunning

I must say this may be one of the most enjoyable biographies I have ever read. Chernow does an incredible job of opening up the window in to Grant’s life. Perhaps even more impressive is the narrative that even a “common” man can impact history.

Fantastic! Completely revised my opinion.

This book completely revised my opinion of Ulysses S. Grant. I haven't (yet) read Ron Chernow's biographies of Washington and Hamilton, but after reading this scintillating biography of Grant, it won't be long!

Long, however, is an apt description for this 1,000 page book that makes a 48-hour audiobook. However, it is so well-written and the story so fascinating that you won't be bored. It is a true American story. Rags to riches to rags to riches to rags to (posthumous) riches. It chronicles Grant's unlikely rise from Midwestern boy to West Point grad to Mexican War captain to destitute drunkard to Civil War general to national savior to President to public figure to pauper to author and finally death as the most beloved man in the country by North or South.

I'm sure there are plenty of excellent reviews so I will just state that if you are a fan of history, read it. If you are a student of America, read it. If you like underdog stories, read it. If you like it when the "good guys" win, read it. Just read it.

FIVE STARS

I myself am a misunderstood genius

I’ve been searching years for a book that captures the torment and triumph of a man to whom much is owed by a world that can scarcely understand him. That is to say, a story not unlike my own life. Chernov has achieved this and more, with each page of Grant’s epic strumming my pain on his fingers and singing my life in his words. A masterpiece.

Herculean Job on Ulysses

The forty-eight hours (!) don't fly by, but you do spend them companionably, and there wasn't a day that I didn't look forward to continuing the audiobook. Chernow does an excellent job in keeping you engaged, and Mark Bramhall, as narrator, somehow manages to pull off the epic read. He hits the right notes, assumes the right tone, keeps the listener engaged. Impressive stuff all around and if you're inclined to dig deep into Grant's amazing life, this read's for you.

US Grant US Hero

Compelling life recounted in a compelling manner. A life story which should be learned by those who today vilify the Civil war and the men who fought it. Their moral and ethical dilemmas led the participants to chose diverse paths but upon conclusion of the war were one nation. It is a story for history

A giant among men

He was a complex and flawed man who struggled with his inner demons his whole adult life. The nation is fortunate to have this man take the national stage during the civil war and hold the union together with his command of the armies of the north. He doesn’t get the accolades of Lincoln but deserves our thanks for his accomplishments during the war and as President after the war.

One of the best books I have ever read.

Okay, I didn't read it, I listened to it, but I realized early on how woefully ignorant I was about the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Grant himself. This is not only a great story about a great man with equally great flaws--notably his inability to judge the people closest to him--it is a fine history of those years. I am better for having read it.

Excellent

Well written and very well narrated. Incredible story about an incredible man. Grant truly was one of the most decent, honorable men whoever lived.

Poignant & prescient for similarly perilous times

One of the best performed audio books I ever recall. Important for Americans to digest at this time of similar racial and class segregation. Grant clearly stands as one of the most important and most unappreciated presidents in our history. The weeds of white supremacy, racism and classism that persisted through the civil war and negan to flourish in the failures of incomplete reconstruction are once again sprouting up all ober our land and not coincidentally in the places where the roots remained. This book will help understa d the historical conext of our present polarized politics and the persistent weed of white supremacy which is the original sin of this country...resurgimg today because we never have had the collective will necessary to uproot it once and for all. This book helps to understand why political forces will never be sufficient on their own, but must have a modern moral grass roots uprising to lead politics to follow with rhe needed policy reforms in the wake of a tidal force of moral leadership to finally repent and kill this most harmful of all legacies..."imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy"(bell hooks)