I just finished reading, the Pulitzer Prize winning book, “Grant,” by William S. McFeely. Over the past serveral years, I have read many biographies on Ulysses S. Grant. This is a fairly large book, with 522 pages, not counting the chapter notes, and bibliography.
As I started reading this book, I was pleased that a small amount of space, was dedicated to Grant’s early life. By the IV chapter (page 41), McFeely had already covered Grant’s early years, and his service, in the Mexican War. For me, this was good, as I have read so many Grant biographies. By chapter VI (page 67), McFeely was delving into Grant’s Civil War service. Over the next 110 pages, McFeely provides details of Grant’s major battles, including Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, the Overland Campaign, Petersburg and Appomattox. Based on using slightly more than 100 pages, to cover Grant’s Civil War service, there is not much space given to any one major battle. Additionally, I was somewhat surprised, that McFeely made no mention of Grant’s initial battle, at Belmont, MO. During the 100 pages, I found McFeely’s writing to be somewhat parochial, and at times, a little difficult to follow. I attribute this mostly, to my knowledge on the Civil War.
The remainder of the book, close to 300 pages, is dedicated to Grant’s service as commanding general, during the Andrew Johnson presidency, Grant’s presidency and his life after the presidency. These 300 pages, provided many new bits of information, that I had never read. I was especially impressed with McFeely’s discussion on Grant’s world tour, his financial difficulties and most certainly his last months, as he was writing his memoirs.
I would highly recommend this book for someone that is trying to learn about Grant. For those that have studied Grant’s life, in detail, much of the book may be repetitious to your previous readings. If you want to learn about Grant’s management of the army, during the Civil War, you may be disappointed in the amount of space dedicated to the Civil War. For those of you, with a moderate knowledge, of Grant, but want a lot more detail on his life, after the war, this is the book for you.
Mike’s Star Rating
