Ulysses S. Grant
18th President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant found success on the battlefield and politics but not in business. His business ventures were disasters. After his presidency, bad business decisions led him to bankruptcy. “Grant’s style is direct and plain, but it has a kind of quiet music to it, the indescribable quality of an authentic voice. There is a level of intimacy that no amount of confessional writing could guarantee. Grant’s assessment of the Civil War and the decisions that went into its waging is mostly brisk and engaging, but what really compelled me through the book were the psychological insights on nearly every page―both of the prominent men whom Grant encountered and of the masses of people whose desires and fears he recognized, sympathized with, and often exploited. Grant’s ability to be empathetic and ruthless in the span of a few sentences―coolly calculating the costs of losing lives against the benefits of pushing on; testing what Southerners could bear and