This Memorial Day is appropriate to celebrate one of our nation’s forgotten saviors. Although Lincoln is often credited with guiding the nation’s rebirth by preserving the Union, none of this would have happened without Ulysses S. Grant’s leadership. Still, Grant is often denigrated as an inept drunk and a butcher of soldiers. This view simply was not shared among his contemporaries who viewed his grace in Confederate surrender at Appomattox Courthouse as foundational in national reconciliation. Chernow’s well-written, admiring biography seeks to correct this oversight.
In a bitter reaction to Northern victory, generations of Southern historians have tried to play up Confederate military expertise and put down Grant’s skill. Grant had struggles with alcohol early in his life, yes, but he admiringly avoided alcohol for most of his later life so that he prove more useful. Grant’s victories, such as those at Chattanooga and Vicksburg, required expertise that made him one of the world’s all-time greatest generals. His memoirs, written on his death-bed, only reaffirm this view as Grant’s ingenuity shines through.
I would have liked for Chernow to put in a chapter on Grant’s legacy. How can this successful two-term US President be so forgotten in contemporary culture? That explanatory narrative deserves to see the light of day, and I would have liked to have Chernow write it. Overall, this biography is extremely well-researched, well-argued, and well-executed, but that glaring omission stands as a weakness.
As Chernow and contemporary Walt Whitman acknowledge, America’s greatness can be seen in the ascent of plain but brilliant individuals like Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant to the highest places. These stories must not be forgotten or revised in light of face-saving by future generations. Lincoln and Grant together freed the black slave. They saved the Union and preserved the hope of democracy for the world. On this Memorial Day, their legacies need to be remembered. Chernow does a good job of making this case and persuading the reader of Grant’s nobility.
Grant
By Ron Chernow
Copyright (c) 2017
Penguin Press
ISBN13 9781594204876
Audiobook
Genre: Presidential Biography, American History
www.amazon.com