As the first fully annotated edition of Ulysses S. Grants Personal Memoirs, this fine volume leaps straight onto the roster of essential reading for anyone even vaguely interested in Grant and the Civil War. The book is deeply researched, but it introduces its scholarship with a light touch that never interferes with the readers enjoyment of Grants fluent narrative. John F. Marszalek and the folks at the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library are building a formidable array of books illuminating many aspects of the generals life. -- Ron Chernow, author of Grant
A richly annotated new edition What gives this peculiarly reticent book its power? Above all, authenticity. If Grants voice is never confessional, it almost never rings false Grants style is strikingly modern in its economy. -- T. J. Stiles * New York Times *
[This] new edition, the most thoroughly annotated ever produced, provides the general reader and scholar alike with detailed access to the generals early life and military career. -- David W. Blight * New York Review of Books *
If Mark Twain called Grants Memoirs a great, unique and unapproachable literary masterpiece, The Complete Annotated Edition is its unique companion. Renowned Civil War historian John Marszalek and his team of editors are owed our gratitude. Their annotated edition will increase appreciation among both longtime admirers and a new generation discovering why Grant is winning his deserved place among American leaders. -- Ronald C. White, author of American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant
Grants style is direct and plain, but it has a kind of quiet music to it, the indescribable quality of an authentic voice. There is a level of intimacy that no amount of confessional writing could guarantee. Grants assessment of the Civil War and the decisions that went into its waging is mostly brisk and engaging, but what really compelled me through the book were the psychological insights on nearly every pageboth of the prominent men whom Grant encountered and of the masses of people whose desires and fears he recognized, sympathized with, and often exploited. Grants ability to be empathetic and ruthless in the span of a few sentencescoolly calculating the costs of losing lives against the benefits of pushing on; testing what Southerners could bear and what would make them breakis consistently on display. Whatever Grant hides in his memoir is less than what he reveals. He was a man who could cringe at the cruelty of a bullfight but was willing to send men into certain slaughter to gain a riverbank, a man who understood both dignity and disgrace. -- Louisa Thomas * New Yorker *
Of the many editions of the memoirs, I recommend the annotated edition published by Harvard University Press overseen by John F. Marszalek, director of the U. S. Grant Presidential Library at Mississippi State, for its invaluable notes identifying almost every personage mentioned by Grant, expanding on incidents and events Grant glosses over and even correcting his occasional misstatements. -- Michael Hiltzik * Los Angeles Times *
[R]espect for Grant can only be reinforced by readingThe Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant. This is the best presidential memoir written, once earning praise from no less than Mark Twain Grant wrote in a clear and logical style, much as he issued orders, which brings the day-to-day challenges and tremors of war to his readership with never a suggestion of embellishment. -- Stephen Loosley * The Australian *
A brilliant new annotated version. -- Steve Donoghue * Open Letters Monthly *
The Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant provides leadership lessons that can be obtained nowhere elseUlysses Grant in his Memoirs gives us a unique glimpse of someone who found that the habit of reflection could serve as a force multiplier for leadership. -- Thomas E. Ricks * Foreign Policy *
Ron Chernows Grant has been a national bestseller, deservedly so, but we think that the new edition of The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, edited and annotated [by] John F. Marszalek[,] should share that spotlight. Possibly the best presidential memoir written, annotations by Marszalek with David Nolen and Louis Gallo illuminate and contextualize the memoir for the modern reader. -- Lyn Roberts * Literary Hub *
[Grants] memoirs, presented at last in an impressive scholarly edition by John F. Marszalek, were the fruit of a last triumphant battleGrants own words restore him to the pantheon of great soldier-presidents. He stands alongside Washington, Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt and Eisenhower, a select company to which he has always rightfully belonged. -- Nigel Jones * History Today *
A worthy capstone to compliment the now completed thirty-two volume The Papers of Ulysses S. GrantMarszalek, et. al., have done a thorough job in annotating Grants textReaders of this well-constructed and highly recommended edition of Grants Memoirs will not fail to appreciate the mans modesty, but they should also keep in mind that under that modesty lay a cold-blooded willingness to keep right on. -- Larry A. Grant * Civil War Book Review *
The most copious annotated edition of Grants indispensable memoirs to date Its been said that if youre going to pick up one memoir of the Civil War, Grants is the one to read. Similarly, if youre going to purchase one of the several annotated editions of his memoirs, this is the collection to own, read, and reread. * Library Journal *
