Reviews for The annotated memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A new edition, with thorough commentary, of the memoirs of an American Caesarand indeed, a book long reckoned to be America's version of The Gallic Wars.Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1855) began his military career without much promise but distinguished himself in combat in the Mexican-American War, where, as he recounts, he came into contact with many of his future opponents in the Civil War. His legendary service in the Western theater of operations, and later as commander of the entire Union Army, led to his election and re-election as president, but all that did not save him from being bilked by a business partnerand thus this memoir, which none other than Mark Twain convinced him to publish to provide for his soon-to-be-widow, since Grant was already ill with cancer. As editor Samet (English/West Point; No Man's Land: Preparing for War and Peace in Post-9/11 America, 2014, etc.) notes, rumors immediately emerged that Twain had ghostwritten it. In fact, Grant labored endlessly on this massive book, which, writes Samet, "is the artifact that does justice to his achievement as the leader of an army that preserved a nation and emancipated four million people." Grant's writing is simple and unadorned, though those who read between the lines will see that he is nothing if not politically astute. His account of the political troubles of William Tecumseh Sherman for offering the same mercies as he had to the vanquished Confederate forces is a model of understatementthough, he adds, "the feeling against Sherman died out very rapidly, and it was not many weeks before he was restored to the fullest confidence of the American people." If anything, Samet might be criticized, gently, for being too vigorous in annotation; an early disquisition on the French and Indian War, for instance, is orders of magnitude longer than the aside of Grant's that prompted it, and it begs to be reined in. Nonetheless, for Civil War buffs, this is a must-read.This is the edition that serious students of the Civil War, and Grant's role in it, will want. Indispensable. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.


Publishers Weekly
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West Point professor Samet (Soldier's Heart) pulls off a herculean scholarly achievement in her annotation of Grant's classic autobiography. Her valuable introduction places Grant's memoirs in the autobiographical tradition that starts with the likes of Julius Caesar and has found more modern incarnations in Joan Didion and James Baldwin. She also explores Grant's literary influences, which included popular 19th-century writers like Edward Bulwer Lytton and Washington Irving and religious leader John Wesley. Footnotes add color by fleshing out individuals mentioned in passing, add context by expanding on events that Grant elides (such as an anti-Semitic order he issued in 1862), and add varied perspectives by quoting accounts of African-American soldiers (one such passage discusses the self-respect freed slaves gained in soldiering) and other generals. Samet's sources are wide-ranging, from classical writers like Herodotus to Toni Morrison (Samet quotes her description of the black experience immediately postwar, from Beloved) and Monty Python (deriding the practice of paroling enemy soldiers, who then returned to fight again, as "the kind of chivalric inanity satirized so brilliantly in Monty Python and the Holy Grail"). The end result is a very rich reading experience that highlights unexpected connections between events in the text, its historical moment, and its connections to larger cultural themes. Samet accomplishes the rare feat of creating accessible annotations that are as fascinating and enlightening as the text they are meant to enrich. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.


Library Journal
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On the heels of John F. Marszalek's The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant comes Samet's new annotated edition, providing the same full work but with an emphasis on identifying individuals and referencing American literature. Included are intriguing and useful illustrations and maps as well as a valuable bibliography. Samet offers a helpful introduction and epilog that set soldier and U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant's writing within the context of American literature and autobiography as well as current debates on interpreting the Civil War in popular culture. The author also suggests a methodology for reading a battle, such as Shiloh, as a way to understand not only Grant's rendering of specific conflicts but also military battle writing generally. While these interpretations enhance the original memoirs, this new edition does not surpass or supplant Marszalek's edition in copiousness and utility. VERDICT Libraries that want the full complement of Grant's works will profit from Samet's edition; those who own Marszalek's still have the best to date.-Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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