Comments on: Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant

By: Paul@01852

Paul@01852 — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 13:18:24 +0000

I have Grant’s Memoirs (Library of America edition) but have shied away from reading it because I had heard it was hastily written as Grant was dying because he was desperate for income. Based on your review and because I have made a resolution to invest my time into Civil War history during the 150th anniversary you have given me new incentive to pick this up. I have moved my copy from the back row of my LoA shelf to the front!

By: PaulM

PaulM — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:05:11 +0000

Dick, thanks for the insightful and cogent review. I’ve put Ulysses’s book on my “to read” list.

By: Marie

Marie — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 19:27:01 +0000

My resident Civil War historian/buff who has read the 2-volume memoir appreciates and concurs with your review.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 18:59:05 +0000

I have the two volumes of Grant’s Memoirs here-I’ve been threatening to read them for years. Haven’t yet, but I do look at them, and I do think about reading them. Sometimes I even pick them up. Now that I’ve read your comments, I might actually move them to the night table for a couple of years, and then one day…

By: C R Krieger

C R Krieger — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:02:18 +0000

Back when I was young I had a couple of History Profs who thought Grant's advantage was he had slept through his Military Tactics and Strategy courses, taught by Dennis Hart Mahan, which were based on Jomini's understanding of the Napoleonic Wars. Their view was that Lee, et al, smart as they were, were handicapped by that Jominian view of war. They saw Grant as cut more from Clauswitzian cloth, and speculated that he had a very early English edition of On War hidden in his saddle bags. To Grant's benefit. Regards — Cliff

By: David Kalivas

David Kalivas — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:17:38 +0000

Thanks for a nicely written review.