I listened to the audiobook version of Ron Chernow’s Grant, which is a full account of Grant’s life. He gives deep into who Grant was, his faults, his strengths and a lot more. I knew a little before listening to the book. I did know he was a failed business person, but he thrived in the military. After listening to Chernow’s book, there is so much more to know about Grant. Here are a few things I learned. I did not realize his father, Jessie Grant, was a prosperous business man and that a few of Grant’s siblings followed in his footsteps. Nor did I realize his father asked a Congressional representative to get a reluctant Grant into West Point. However, once Grant was in, although he did not excel in his studies, his horseman ship won praise from his fellow students and instructors. Nor did I realize Grant, as president, would send Federal troops several times into the South not only to fight the Ku Klux Klan, but also to protect African Americans so they could vote and practice other rights they gained after the Civil War, which many in the South did not want them to do.
Ron Chernow’s book goes beyond telling the facts about Grant and instead is a thorough examination, commentary on who this important military man and later President is to our American history.
