Faced with cancer and financial ruin, the Civil War's greatest general and former president, Ulysses S Grant wrote his personal memoirs to secure his family's future. In doing so, he won himself a unique place in American letters. This title deals with his life as a soldier.
"The foremost military memoir in the English language, written in a clear, supple style . . . a masterpiece." -Ron Chernow, in Grant
Faced with cancer and financial ruin, Ulysses S. Grant wrote his personal memoirs to secure his family's future-and won himself a unique place in American letters. Acclaimed by writers as diverse as Mark Twain and Gertrude Stein, Grant's memoirs demonstrate the intelligence, intense determination, and laconic modesty that made him the Union's foremost commander. Personal Memoirs is devoted almost entirely to his life as a soldier, tracing the trajectory of his extraordinary career from West Point cadet to general-in-chief of all Union armies. With their directness and clarity, his writings on war are without rival in American literature.
This edition of Grant's Personal Memoirs includes an indispensable introduction and explanatory notes by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James M. McPherson.
"The best [memoirs] of any general's since Caesar."
—Mark Twain "A unique expression of the national character . . . [Grant] has conveyed the suspense which was felt by himself and his army and by all who believed in the Union cause. The reader finds himself . . . on edge to know how the Civil War is coming out."
—Edmund Wilson
“Perhaps the most revelatory autobiography of high command to exist in any language. . . . If there is a single contemporary document which explains ‘why the North won the Civil war,’ that abiding conundrum of American historical inquiry, it is the
Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.” —
John Keegan
“Well observed, often humorous, invariably charming, penetrating and lucid . . . On every page, his narrative has the simple directness of the finest English prose, inspired by the King James Bible on which he had been raised. The overall effect is both intimate and majestic.”
—The Guardian
