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Hold On with a Bulldog Grip: A Short Study of Ulysses S. Grant
In this new short biography of Ulysses S. Grant, leading scholars provide an accessible introduction to Grant and his legacy. Grant led Federal forces to victory in the Civil War, was the first modern American president, and authored his memoirs, which would eventually become one of the greatest books of nonfiction by an American author.
The authors present a thematic exploration of Grant, providing the necessary insight to appreciate Grant and correct the myths that for too long clouded his true importance. They highlight specific moments or relationships in Grant's life--including his connection to such key figures as Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain--and elaborate on the more controversial elements of Grant's legacy, such as accusations about his drinking and corruption during the Grant presidency. Not to overlook his military accomplishments, they devote time to the study of Grant's war strategy and military career, beginning as early as his reluctant enrollment into West Point.
From humble birth to tragic death, this new take on Ulysses S. Grant instills readers with a deeper understanding of the military legend's nuanced personal history and an appreciation for the late president's tragic and triumphant story.
The authors present a thematic exploration of Grant, providing the necessary insight to appreciate Grant and correct the myths that for too long clouded his true importance. They highlight specific moments or relationships in Grant's life--including his connection to such key figures as Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain--and elaborate on the more controversial elements of Grant's legacy, such as accusations about his drinking and corruption during the Grant presidency. Not to overlook his military accomplishments, they devote time to the study of Grant's war strategy and military career, beginning as early as his reluctant enrollment into West Point.
From humble birth to tragic death, this new take on Ulysses S. Grant instills readers with a deeper understanding of the military legend's nuanced personal history and an appreciation for the late president's tragic and triumphant story.
- GenresBiography
128 pages, Hardcover
First published March 20, 2019
3 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
John F. Marszalek
37 books8 followersJohn F. Marszalek is Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Mississippi State University. He has served as the Executive Director and Managing Editor of the Ulysses S. Grant Association and The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant project since 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 16, 2022
"Hold on with a Bulldog Grip: A Short Study of Ulysses S. Grant" is a highly readable short biography of Ulysses S. Grant suitable for a wide variety of readers from middle school on up. The title comes from advice given by Lincoln, as the book's introduction mentions. The authors are a team including historian and executive director of the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library John F. Marszalek, so you know the history is accurate.
The no-nonsense chapter heads give a sense of just how much the writing style is geared towards a contemporary general reader. For example, the chapter on Grant's time at West Point is not called something 19th-centuryish or pretentiously official like "Appointed to the Academy" but instead, uses refreshingly ordinary language for today: "College Life."
If you already know much about Grant, you won't learn much new here (except for the surprising story of how the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library wound up located at a university in the Deep South, Mississippi State, discussed in the book's afterward). But you may appreciate hearing Grant's story told again with a focus on just the highest of highlights. And make a renewed acquaintance with some great Grant quotes.
The way the book is organized, a combination of chronology and theme, makes interesting connections. For example, "The Evils of Slavery" opens with Grant's enslavement of William Jones and closes with Grant's manumission of Jones, for a neat bit of wrapped-up storytelling. In the middle, the chapter explains the attitude towards slavery of Grant's family (lots of abolitionists) and the Dent family of his wife Julia (Missouri slaveholders), along with background on the history of slavery in the United States, for added context.
It also covers Grant's support for civil rights as president, from the Fifteenth Amendment to the Enforcement Acts and crushing the KKK. This chapter covers a lot of thorny topics with matter-of-fact prose that makes this most difficult of subjects go down easy.
The same can be said of the rest of the book: it's deceptively easy to read. While being entertained by an engaging story of an unpromising young man who, with a combination of pluck and luck, turns failure into massive success, the reader is also taking in important historical analysis without hardly even knowing it.
That's why I recommend this book not only for Grant newbies but also for longtime Grant buffs.
My only questions concern why a couple of episodes were left out:
1. There's very little about Grant's experience in the Mexican War. Perhaps the authors thought that introducing a military prequel to the main war that's the focus of the book and of Grant's life would add confusion. But his time in Mexico would be interesting to readers today for both information and entertainment. It helped shape Grant's approach to the Civil War. And he did some crazy heroic stunts in Mexico that make fun stories in themselves, especially when he rode past enemy fire hanging on the side of a horse or when he installed a cannon in a church belfry.
2. General Orders No. 11, expelling the Jews from the Department of the Tennessee in December 1862. Despite its brevity, this short book ably touches on all the major controversies about Grant's life and career handled by much longer Grant biographies -- drinking, owning a slave, "butcher" generalship, corrupt presidency. But the authors decided to leave out perhaps the only controversy in Grant's career that he himself expressly recognized as a mistake, his military order to expel the Jews "as a class" which sounds especially heinous to a modern reader familiar with the modern climax of the wicked history of antisemitism in the Nazi Holocaust. With the skillful pen of Marszalek and his co-authors, even a single paragraph would have been enough to do justice to the issue. Grant's story is not complete for the modern post-Holocaust reader without it.
This book, which offers a few key photos but is mostly text, might be usefully paired with one of the picture biographies of Grant, such as those by McFeely or the decades-old but still relevant "US Grant Album" by Lawrence A. Frost, widely available online in used copies.
The no-nonsense chapter heads give a sense of just how much the writing style is geared towards a contemporary general reader. For example, the chapter on Grant's time at West Point is not called something 19th-centuryish or pretentiously official like "Appointed to the Academy" but instead, uses refreshingly ordinary language for today: "College Life."
If you already know much about Grant, you won't learn much new here (except for the surprising story of how the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library wound up located at a university in the Deep South, Mississippi State, discussed in the book's afterward). But you may appreciate hearing Grant's story told again with a focus on just the highest of highlights. And make a renewed acquaintance with some great Grant quotes.
The way the book is organized, a combination of chronology and theme, makes interesting connections. For example, "The Evils of Slavery" opens with Grant's enslavement of William Jones and closes with Grant's manumission of Jones, for a neat bit of wrapped-up storytelling. In the middle, the chapter explains the attitude towards slavery of Grant's family (lots of abolitionists) and the Dent family of his wife Julia (Missouri slaveholders), along with background on the history of slavery in the United States, for added context.
It also covers Grant's support for civil rights as president, from the Fifteenth Amendment to the Enforcement Acts and crushing the KKK. This chapter covers a lot of thorny topics with matter-of-fact prose that makes this most difficult of subjects go down easy.
The same can be said of the rest of the book: it's deceptively easy to read. While being entertained by an engaging story of an unpromising young man who, with a combination of pluck and luck, turns failure into massive success, the reader is also taking in important historical analysis without hardly even knowing it.
That's why I recommend this book not only for Grant newbies but also for longtime Grant buffs.
My only questions concern why a couple of episodes were left out:
1. There's very little about Grant's experience in the Mexican War. Perhaps the authors thought that introducing a military prequel to the main war that's the focus of the book and of Grant's life would add confusion. But his time in Mexico would be interesting to readers today for both information and entertainment. It helped shape Grant's approach to the Civil War. And he did some crazy heroic stunts in Mexico that make fun stories in themselves, especially when he rode past enemy fire hanging on the side of a horse or when he installed a cannon in a church belfry.
2. General Orders No. 11, expelling the Jews from the Department of the Tennessee in December 1862. Despite its brevity, this short book ably touches on all the major controversies about Grant's life and career handled by much longer Grant biographies -- drinking, owning a slave, "butcher" generalship, corrupt presidency. But the authors decided to leave out perhaps the only controversy in Grant's career that he himself expressly recognized as a mistake, his military order to expel the Jews "as a class" which sounds especially heinous to a modern reader familiar with the modern climax of the wicked history of antisemitism in the Nazi Holocaust. With the skillful pen of Marszalek and his co-authors, even a single paragraph would have been enough to do justice to the issue. Grant's story is not complete for the modern post-Holocaust reader without it.
This book, which offers a few key photos but is mostly text, might be usefully paired with one of the picture biographies of Grant, such as those by McFeely or the decades-old but still relevant "US Grant Album" by Lawrence A. Frost, widely available online in used copies.
December 30, 2022
A nice quick synopsis on Grant’s life. It serves as a decent summary for those (like myself) unfamiliar with many details of his personal life, his influence in the Civil War, his presidency, and beyond. Several of the facts presented in the book were repetitive — an apparent downside to having four authors — and it’s written in a fairly plain style; kind of elementary but straightforward and easy to follow.
I have a copy of Grant’s personal memoirs which I intend to read, so I think this was a good place to start to get a general background before diving deeper into a firsthand account of his life.
I have a copy of Grant’s personal memoirs which I intend to read, so I think this was a good place to start to get a general background before diving deeper into a firsthand account of his life.
June 26, 2019
The book was very repetitive with many of its facts. While I can always use a good reminder of what I read a chapter or 2 prior, I felt it was too much. Yet the last pages were redemptive in it’s literary content because the words flowed easier. Overall, it was a great book but the writing was stilted. Maybe that can’t be avoided with multiple authors? I definitely want to succumb to my husband’s pressure and read more about Grant.
April 20, 2019
Until I read the afterword, I might have given this short book a 4-star rating. I’ve read about 10 regular-sized volumes so far about Grant, but the afterword of this short little book is incredibly stunning.
July 31, 2022
A quick read with good information. Because of the multiple authors, there was some repetition of facts. The purpose was to make Grant look good, which it did.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews