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Title: Personal Memoirs: Ulysses S. Grant (Modern Library War) by Geoffrey Perret, Ulysses S. Grant ISBN: 0-375-75228-5 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 04 May, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.75 (28 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Superb! Simply the best military memoir I've read.
Comment: No less an eminent man of letters than Mark Twain called Ulysses S. Grant's "Personal Memoirs" "the best [memoirs] of any General's than Caesars." Having now read this outstanding work along with those of Julius Caesar, William T. Sherman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, Colin Powell and H. Norman Schwarzkopf, I must agree with Mark Twain's assessment. For sheer honesty, humility, and simple but powerful language, U.S. Grant's memoirs are without peer.
Grant allows the reader to go along with him and live once again his experiences during the Mexican War and American Civil War. He interjects his own judgments and opinions sparingly, yet always honestly. Where he feels he made mistakes, he admits them freely, and his criticisms of his colleagues is always tempered by an obvious attitude of professionalism. The fact that Grant wrote a memoir of such eloquence while dying from cancer makes it all the more powerful a book.
I found this modern library edition especially outstanding. The introductory notes by Caleb Carr and Geoffrey Perret, while brief, are extremely informative. Maps and etchings from the original 1885 Charles Webster & Co. edition are included, as is General Grant's report to Secretary of War Stanton on Civil War operations during 1864-65. This appendix makes fantastic reading by itself!
I highly recommend this outstanding edition to all Civil War and military history enthusiasts. It is simply the best military memoir I've ever read.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Must Read
Comment: Being a Civil War buff, I just received a copy of the old 2-volume edition of this book as a birthday present. It turned out to be one of the better presents I have received.
Grant begins by stating that he will NOT present all the details of each campaign and battle. He keeps this promise. Rather, the book is a general overview of his background, youth, and military career from Mexico through the Civil War.
I expected some self-aggrandizement, but was (pleasantly)surprised by Grant's frankness and obvious sincerity. He tells things as he experienced them, with no flourishes. When he was wrong, he says so. When credit belongs to someone else, he also says so. It is a straight-forward story by an obviously straight-forward man. Knowing that he was soon to die, Grant wrote a remarkably honest piece - especially compared to the works of some of his contemporaries.
When I finished reading the book, I don't believe that I knew that much more about the war itself. Rather, my strongest impression was of Grant's character; that I had, in a sense, met the man.
It is a book NOT be to missed.
Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent and readable memoirs
Comment: Grant here gives a consistently interesting account of his role in many of the major campaigns of the Civil War. His prose is clear and his accounts of battles and strategies quite readable, even to those without particular expertise in military history. He sticks to the story, making few attempts to even scores with his numerous critics in the Army or the press.
One thing that should be noted is that these 'personal memoirs' are in many ways remarkably impersonal. There is only a quite brief account of Grant's youth, and his wife, to whom he was apparently quite devoted, is barely mentioned. Grant tells the story of his career as an officer with increasing levels of responsibility, but says little about himself. Also, the memoirs end with the assassination of Lincoln, and do not at all discuss his presidency.
The edition I read was lacking in maps, which was a serious drawback, however it was a different edition than the one discussed here. Because so much of the book focuses on the tactics of specific campaigns, a good set of maps is a very valuable addition, and would be advisable to check for in any edition you consider reading or buying.
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Title: Memoirs of General W.T. Sherman (Library of America) by William Tecumseh Sherman, Charles Royster ISBN: 0940450658 Publisher: Library of America Pub. Date: October, 1990 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: From Manassas to Appomattox: Memoirs of the Civil War in America by James Longstreet, Jeffry D. Wert ISBN: 0306804646 Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: April, 1992 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: Grant by Jean Edward Smith ISBN: 0684849275 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 09 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: Through Blood and Fire at Gettysburg by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain ISBN: 1879664178 Publisher: Stan Clark Military Books Pub. Date: July, 1996 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant (Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant) by John Simon, Julia Dent Grant ISBN: 0809314436 Publisher: Southern Illinois Univ Pr (Trd) Pub. Date: February, 1988 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
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