|
U. S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth (Civil War America) |  | Author: Joan Waugh
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Category: Book
List Price: $30.00
Buy New: $13.71
as of 7/30/2010 23:31 MDT details
You Save: $16.29 (54%)
New (31) Used (18) from $6.80
Seller: jonnyboysbooks
Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 44864
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0807833177
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.82092
EAN: 9780807833179
ASIN: 0807833177
Publication Date: November 15, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9780807833179 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
At the time of his death, Ulysses S. Grant was the most famous person in America, considered by most citizens to be equal in stature to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Yet today his monuments are rarely visited, his military reputation is overshadowed by that of Robert E. Lee, and his presidency is permanently mired at the bottom of historical rankings.
In an insightful blend of biography and cultural history, Joan Waugh traces Grant's shifting national and international reputation, illuminating the role of memory in our understanding of American history. She captures a sense of what led nineteenth-century Americans to overlook Grant's obvious faults and hold him up as a critically important symbol of national reconciliation and unity. Waugh further shows that Grant's reputation and place in public memory closely parallel the rise and fall of the northern version of the Civil War story — in which the United States was the clear, morally superior victor and Grant was the emblem of that victory. After the failure of Reconstruction, the dominant Union myths about the war gave way to a southern version that emphasized a more sentimental remembrance of the honor and courage of both sides and ennobled the "Lost Cause." By the 1920s, Grant's reputation had plummeted.
Most Americans today are unaware of how revered Grant was in his lifetime. Joan Waugh uncovers the reasons behind the rise and fall of his renown, underscoring as well the fluctuating memory of the Civil War itself.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
 Waugh take Grant to the cleaners. July 22, 2010
jjcor
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Too many 4 & 5 star reviews in regard to the fine writing
author.
Not enough paid attention to the abashedly phony biography.
To prove the point;read the bio by Jean Smart. A full and
well written biography about Grant. The author may have been awake
in english class;regarding the written word. But she was
a sleep in history class!
 FALLS SHORT OF ITS GOAL July 8, 2010
JoeV (Arlington Hts, IL)
Ulysses S. Grant is a figure from American history that many of us recognize without knowing many of the particulars of his life and accomplishments. We remember him as the general that Abraham Lincoln finally "found" to lead the Union Army in defeating Robert E. Lee and winning the Civil War. As Commander, Grant's military strategy was the use of superior numbers of troops fighting a war of attrition against the ever dwindling Confederate army, which simply didn't have the men or the resources to win the war. Thus his military success was based more on circumstances than on any inherent talent or military skill.
Capitalizing on his military fame, Grant was then elected to two terms as President where he, at best, bumbled along from one scandal to another, totally unfit for and incapable of the job. After leaving office - and losing all of his life savings - he wrote and published his memoirs while battling the cancer that took his life. In the background is the question of whether Grant was drunk during most of this time.
As with all popular history there is a small grain of truth to the above "story", but in Grant's case it's so miniscule that it proves misleading. This book attempts to separate fact from fiction in Grant's life and explain why the fiction has overwhelmed the facts. An admirable, and in my mind, necessary historical task but unfortunately this book comes up short in its goal. The problem being that it jumps back and forth from being both a biography and an historical critique with the result that it accomplishes neither. There's simply not enough depth here to do either topic justice.
That being said this book does provide an overview of Grant's life but if you are looking for more depth I'd suggest Grant by Jean Edward Smith; Ulysses S. Grant - Triumph Over Adversity by Brooks Simpson; Grant and Sherman by Charles Bracelen Flood; and Bruce Catton's Grant Moves South and Grant Takes Command. All are excellent books about a great man that many of us know too little about.
Good - thought not a military biog. June 29, 2010
Scholar (USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Waugh tells us about Grant and his place in the hearts of Americans during & after the CW. Very enlightening.
Great man gone... March 15, 2010
Richard Guida
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This quasi-bio is especially valuable in breaking down the reasons for Grant's puzzling departure from American historical fame and fanfare to revisionist obscurity. Fortunately author Waugh is amongst the wave of "re"revisionist biographers reinforcing the implications of "why" set forth by others like Smith and Simpson. The book is somewhat fragmented, not caring to be a sprawling biography but rather a treatise on certain issues, principles and events. In particular, Grant's death and subsequent funeral, and, the history of Grant's Tomb are greatly detailed and alone make the book worth reading for devotees and doubters alike.
richard guida
 Documenting fading memory March 12, 2010
Gary T. Johnson
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is more about memory than it is about Grant himself. Ronald Reagen, it might be said, is an example of a President whose stock has gone up since he died -- the collapse of communism confirmed a key view of his presidency, and the publication of his letters revealed a thoughtful and articulate human side. Joan Waugh's book on Grant reveals a President whose reputation collapsed after his death. This would have been very hard to predict. The writing of his memoirs as he lay dying created a best-seller and induced sympathetic feelings. The Union general who won the war by risking the lives of his troop was mourned at his funeral by veterans from the Confederacy. His personal weaknesses were well-known and were forgiven. Memorials were built in the form of his tomb in New York and his monument on in Washington, D.C. More than anything, it seems, his reputation was overshadowed by the myth of the South as a lost cause and by the apotheosis of Robert E. Lee as a kind of saint. Will the record correct itself? This excellent book may help, but I wouldn't bet the ranch on it. The best-known movie portraying the Civil War remains Gone with the Wind. Subsequent events have made us harsher on corruption in presidential administrations. Grant's incomplete efforts at Reconstruction probably will be remembered not for their good intentions but for their missed opportunities. One point to remember: as we read Douglas Brinkley's very complete portrayal of Teddy Roosevelt as an environmentalist, let's not forget that it was U.S. Grant in 1872 who created the first national park -- Yellowstone.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
|
|
|
Contact Military Topix
Privacy and Legal CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
