Book Reviews

Grant by Jean Edward Smith
(2002)
(784 pages)

I thought this was a very thorough, excellently written biography. The author does a great job of bringing us through U.S. Grants life displaying his strengths & weaknesses as well as his good fortune and (many) misfortunes. This was a riveting read. Especially through the Civil War. I found myself thinking very highly of Grant. His two greatest strengths as a general proved to be his biggest liabilities as a president as well as other areas of his life.
1) Grant was blindly loyal to his friends. As a general His loyalty helped to win the war. As a president, he refused to turn on his friends until he saw proof of their corruption. A truly admirable trait but it caused many to feel he was involved in the corruption when in fact he was honest. Actually, when he discovered proof of corruption he acted. Sometimes, as in the case of the gold crisis, over-reacted causing more trouble than necessary.
2) He was very independent in his decision making often making decisions on his own rather than seeking the advice of his staff. Again as a general, most of his decisions proved to be the right ones. As a president, some of his choices were excellent, others, well, could have been better had he taken advice from his council.
I highly recommend this book as an excellent biography on the life of Ulysses S. Grant.