Grant
Ron Chernow's 2017 biography reassesses Ulysses S. Grant, the general who won the Civil War for the Union and served two terms as president during Reconstruction. Chernow follows Grant from his quiet Ohio boyhood through failure in business, his rise to command of the Union armies, and his complicated postwar presidency. The book takes seriously Grant's struggle with alcohol without letting it define him, drawing on letters, military records, and contemporary accounts to render a leader who was unflashy, modest, and relentless. Chernow argues that historians long underrated Grant, especially his commitment to civil rights for newly freed African Americans and his use of federal power against the Ku Klux Klan. He also reckons with the corruption scandals of the Grant administration. The result is a sympathetic but clear eyed portrait that helped reshape Grant's reputation.
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What you might want to know about Grant
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A nearly thousand page biography of Ulysses S. Grant as soldier, president, and lifelong defender of Black civil rights.
No, Chernow provides enough context for general readers, though some background helps with the military chapters.
It runs roughly 1,100 pages including notes, making it a major commitment but among Chernow's most readable works.
Grant was written by Ron Chernow.
Grant is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.