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The Annotated Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (The Annotated Books) Kindle Edition

by Ulysses S. Grant (Author), Elizabeth D. Samet (Editor) Format: Kindle Edition
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 411 ratings
Editors' pick Best Biographies & Memoirs
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With kaleidoscopic, trenchant, path-breaking insights, Elizabeth D. Samet has produced the most ambitious edition of Ulysses Grant’s Memoirs yet published.


One hundred and thirty-three years after its 1885 publication by Mark Twain, Elizabeth Samet has annotated this lavish edition of Grant’s landmark memoir, and expands the Civil War backdrop against which this monumental American life is typically read. No previous edition combines such a sweep of historical and cultural contexts with the literary authority that Samet, an English professor obsessed with Grant for decades, brings to the table.


Whether exploring novels Grant read at West Point or presenting majestic images culled from archives, Samet curates a richly annotated, highly collectible edition that will fascinate Civil War buffs. The edition also breaks new ground in its attack on the “Lost Cause” revisionism that still distorts our national conversation about the legacy of the Civil War. Never has Grant’s transformation from tanner’s son to military leader been more insightfully and passionately explained than in this timely edition, appearing on the 150th anniversary of Grant’s 1868 presidential election.

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  1. Print length
    1144 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Liveright
  5. Publication date
    December 4, 2018
  6. File size
    237532 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Elizabeth Samet’s annotations to Grant’s Memoirs are a marvel, brilliantly situating the text not only in military history, but also in a broader literary and cultural context. The many admirers of the memoir will find this an essential addition to the text, one that ranges from Xenophon to Gertrude Stein, from Islamic commentaries on the sacking of cities to a wealth of contemporary photographs, paintings, and maps."
― Phil Klay, National Book Award–winning author of Redeployment

"Samet pulls off a herculean scholarly achievement in her annotation of Grant’s classic autobiography.... A very rich reading experience that highlights unexpected connections between events in the text, its historical moment, and its connections to larger cultural themes. Samet accomplishes this rare feat of creating accessible annotations that are fascinating and enlightening as the text they are meant to enrich."
― Publishers Weekly [starred review]

"There is so much there... A tanner’s son, failing at so much, turned savior of his country. A slaveholder turned mass emancipator. The warrior transformed into a warrior-poet."
― Ta-Nehisi Coates on Grant's Personal Memoirs

"An enthralling, brilliant, illuminating―and unique―contribution that helps return Ulysses S. Grant to the pinnacle on which he belongs. Professor Elizabeth Samet’s Annotated Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant is literary and historical scholarship at its very finest – providing a lyrical, exceptionally readable addition to Grant’s extraordinarily clear, forthright, and unsentimental Personal Memoirs."
― General David Petraeus, US Army, Ret.

"A new edition, with thorough commentary, of the memoirs of an American Caesar―and indeed, a book long reckoned to be America's version of The Gallic Wars. For Civil War buffs, this is a must-read... the edition that serious students of the Civil War, and Grant's role in it, will want. Indispensable."
― Kirkus Reviews [starred review]

About the Author

Elizabeth D. Samet received her BA from Harvard and her PhD in English literature from Yale. She is the author of No Man's Land: Preparing for War and Peace in Post-9/11 America (Macmillan); and Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point (FSG & Picador), which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest and was named one of The New York Time's 100 Notable Books of 2007; and Willing Obedience: Citizens, Soldiers, and the Progress of Consent in America, 1776–1898 (Stanford UP). Her essays and reviews have been published in various venues, including The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, and The New Republic. Samet is a professor of English at West Point. She speaks often to both civilian and military audiences on the role of literature in shaping future military officers, and she was a member of the Army Chief of Staff's 2011–2012 Task Force on Leader Development. She has appeared on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, NPR, and the BBC World Service.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07C8QJYNP
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Liveright; Annotated edition (December 4, 2018)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 4, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 237532 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 1144 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 411 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
411 global ratings
*Rough* copy
3 Stars
*Rough* copy
The book was a purchase for someone interested in Grant. So I can’t really speak to the content.However, I was really disappointed to open the box and find a bet back cover as well as a sliced/ripped jacket. I’ll see what the purchaser wants to do about it. If it were for me, I’d want a replacement sent. It’s just not fun getting a brand new book that’s all beat up.
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Top reviews from the United States

Socky Monkey
5.0 out of 5 stars Best President autobiography hands down
Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2024
Verified Purchase
I've read most of the Presidental autobiographies this one is hands down the greatest. It focuses mostly on the Civil War and what made Grant such a exceptional General and war hero. Perfect for any American history historian.
2 people found this helpful
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Saloonkeeper11
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Memoir With the Most Definitive Annotations Ever
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2023
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Truly remarkable edition of Grant's Memoirs, one so fully annotated that it will boggle your mind. It's satisfying to see Grant receive the forgotten credit that is his due through this edition. You can also find a terrific account of his life in Ron Chernow and Ronald White's biographies. Plus, a book I highly recommend, is Mark Perry's, Grant and Twain, a fascinating story that tells how a swindled and debt-ridden Grant, facing death from cancer, wrote and published his memoirs with the help of Mark Twain. For readers of Samet's edition, it's important to remember that the memoirs are a first-person account, an astounding primary source, written by a hard-scrabble farmer, a soldier and recovered alcoholic, who would become the country's leading general and future president. Grant is America's Imperator, a title bestowed by a grateful Republic - a gift to its victorious general. Revered in his time, it was only after his death that Grant's history was maligned and rewritten, depicted as a drunk and corrupt president (the patronage system almost assured corruption for any president), and as a bumpkin bereft of any skill, a man who was only lucky. Of course all of this is nonsense and completely detached from reality. Ulysses Grant's wartime resume is unmatched. He is the only general that compelled the surrender of three complete armies (Ft. Donelson, Vicksburg, and Appomattox). No other general, on either side, did this even one time. Grant's Tomb and his Capitol Memorial are vivid examples of the esteem with which he was held. Contemporary voices tell us more. Abraham Lincoln: "General Grant is the most extraordinary man in command that I know of." Frederick Douglass: "To Grant more than any other man, the negro owes his enfranchisement...A man too broad for prejudice, too humane to despise the humblest, too great to be small at any point. In him the negro found a protector, the Indian a friend, a vanquished foe a brother, an imperiled nation a savior... One of the noblest, wisest and best men I ever knew." And this quote from an adversary, Confederate Vice President, Alexander Stephens is most illuminating: "His spare figure, simple manners, lack of ostentation, extreme politeness and charm of conversation were a revelation to me, for I had pictured him as a man of a directly opposite type of character, and expected to find in him only the bluntness of a soldier. Notwithstanding the fact that he talks so well, it is plain he has more brains than tongue. He is one of the most remarkable men I have ever met. He does not seem aware of his powers." The picture of Ulysses Grant is complex and compelling and you can't go wrong reading his own words. Thanks to Elizabeth Samet for placing Grant's words in context through her annotations. It's a daunting book, well over a 1,000 pages, richly illustrated, and in a time when history is being threatened, it's reassuring to hear from Grant directly, in what is universally considered the greatest memoirs of any president. Grant was a general who led armies into battle. A president who tried to implement Reconstruction, to place the country on a path for greater social justice. Will we ever get there? Who knows? But if you take away just one thing from Grant's Memoirs, it's the first paragraph of his conclusion. It says it all. Not the War Between the States but the War of the Rebellion. Here's Grant's paragraph: The cause of the great War of the Rebellion against the United States will have to be attributed to slavery. For some years before the war began it was a trite saying among some politicians that "A state half slave and half free cannot exist." All must become slave or all free, or the state will go down. I took no part myself in any such view of the case at the time, but since the war is over, reviewing the whole question, I have come to the conclusion that the saying is quite true.
6 people found this helpful
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Gerard Stevenson
5.0 out of 5 stars Book as Promised
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2024
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Very good delivery. Can’t wait to read it
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Howard Schulman
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2023
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I was very surprised that this memoire written by President Grant at the very end of his days was extremely readable and well written. The extensive and "complete" notes by Samet are great, but the total length of the book is daunting, 1000 pages, though to speed things up you need only refer to the notes when your interest peaks....which may be often.

I discovered it touring the Grant’s Tomb in Manhattan, on display inside. I can highly recommending taking a walk through, as most people in NYC and elsewhere have no idea of what a historic treasure exists up in Harlem, near Columbia University.

I had just read Ron Chernow’s book on US Grant and thought it would be interesting to browse through this book, but ended up reading about 100 pages, very satisfied. I was a little let down when I realized that the book only goes up to the end of the Civil War. Nothing about Grant’s time during the Johnson administration or his own. So having just read Chernow, which I can also highly recommend, I decided to go onto other books. But just for pure entertainment and interest, I could easily have stayed with it. It seems like most of the book is military, and that is why I moved on.

Nevertheless, it is extremely readable and probably offered historians and others a huge gift when it was written. It immediately became a huge nationwide best-seller, too. It was written as Grant lay dying of throat cancer. He wrote it to provide funds for his wife, having lost money through bad business deals. Mark Twain arranged a favorable publishing deal, needed to give Grant his due, for a change. Samet’s notes are great, too.
5 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended onlune
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2024
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Bought for my history buff son in law. He enjoyed reading it.
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Alex
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Memoir, but no maps and pointless annotations hold it back
Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2021
Verified Purchase
Ulysses S Grant was the most important Union general in the US civil war. His memoirs detail his military service, with a few chapters dedicated to his civilian life. Grant Details his plans and strategies. He also critiques himself and other generals, discusses to prevent the spread of disease in an army camp, how to keep troop morale up, and the politics of being a general during that era.

The annotations in this version give context to Grant and his story. They also give important details about the civil war. Detailing Grant's controversial moments which he leaves of his memoirs. The annotations also feature other primary sources to give another perspective to the events being described by Grant.

The two biggest issues are the lack of maps and some pointless annotations. Firstly, it is very common in the book for several different armies to move in different directions trying to capture strategic points. Due to this, the lack of a map in order to keep track of their movements and battles often make the book confusing. I often had to look up maps on my computer in order to keep track of what was happening. Secondly, some of the annotations are unnecessary and just pad the book, some of them stretching on to 4 pages in length.

This being said, I believe this is the best version of Grant's memoirs that can be currently bought. Its an impressive work worth reading.
6 people found this helpful
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