Grant by Ron Chernow

Grant by Ron Chernow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am so excited I finished this book! I felt like I experienced every minute of Grant’s 63 years.

I read this because Ta-Nehisi Coates suggested it in an article in The Atlantic and I spent the first half of the book wondering why. The first half of this large tome is Grant’s early life and what felt like the entire Civil War. Have you figured out that I am not a Civil War enthusiast?

I found the second half of the book about Reconstruction and the Grant presidency infinitely more readable. I breezed through that informative section only to be slowed down a bit by Chernow’s protracted coverage of Grant’s post-presidency, death, and burial. Mark Twain improved the end quite a bit.

I think Chernow let Grant off too easily on his bungling of Black Rock, but otherwise a very detailed and probably balanced look at Grant.

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