Ulysses S. Grant ─ Triumph over Adversity, 1822-1865

Many modern historians have painted Ulysses S. Grant as a butcher, a drunk, and a failure as president. Others have argued the exact opposite and portray him with saintlike levels of ethic and intellect.

In Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph over Adversity 1822a??1865, historian Brooks D. Simpson takes neither approach, recognizing Grant as a complex and human figure with human faults, strengths, and motivations. Simpson offers a balanced and complete study of Grant from birth to the end of the Civil War, with particular emphasis on his military career and family life and the struggles he overcame in his unlikely rise from unremarkable beginnings to his later fame as commander of the Union Army. Chosen as a New York Times Notable Book upon its original publication, Ulysses S. Grant is a readable, thoroughly researched portrait that sheds light on this controversial figure.

Brooks D. Simpson is an American historian and writer who is currently ASU Foundation Professor of History at Arizona State University. He is best known for his work on Ulysses S. Grant but has written on topics from George Washington's Supreme Court appointments to baseball great Derek Jeter. His book Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph over Adversity, 1822-1865 was named a New York Times Notable Book and a Choice Outstanding Academic Title. Simpson has appeared several times on C-SPAN, speaking on Grant and Henry Adams, as well as on PBS's American Experience.

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