I'm not surprised that Michael Korda's book on U.S. Grant is such a hit. It is beautifully researched, shows Korda's wonderfully broad knowledge of history and military history, and introduces us to the human side of Grant. I am not an historian and have always "bought the rap" that U.S. Grant was one of our worst presidents. Korda's book presents a very different picture of this misunderstood president. That Grant's Memoirs...
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Military history is often a tragedy the first time around and a farce when it repeats, as this perceptive book makes abundantly clear in outlining and assessing the career of America's greatest general. Fans of Robert E. Lee may well argue about the "greatest", the blunt fact is that Grant understood Lee better than Lee understood Grant. Korda makes the point again and again that Grant, except on rare occasions, was...
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This is one of two brief biographies of Grant (1822-1885) I recently read, the other written by Josiah Bunting III which is part of Times Books' "The American Presidents" series, with Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. serving as general editor. Although both Korda and Bunting cover much of the same material, there are significant differences between their respective approaches to the18th president of the United States. For example,...
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Michael Korda's short biography of Ulysses Grant is the best book on the persona of Grant that has been my pleasure to read. As a graduate of West Point and 38 year veteran of the Army and Army Reserve, I have been a long-time admirer of Grant's military skills; and I was familiar with most of the facts of his life. Yet Mr. Korda's focus on Grant's personal characteristics and the forces that influednced his thinking was...
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Michael Korda's biography of Ulysses S. Grant is remarkably spare, a mere 158 pages in a compact 6 x 9 page format no less. But in those few pages, Korda paints a picture of greatness. Perhaps it is to the lasting credit of Grant that his life could be painted in broad strokes with only selected details. Grant was a youth with few outstanding qualities aside from horsemanship. A mediocre student, he attends West Point,...
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