Lee and Grant: A Dual Biography

by Gene Smith

Overview

A biography of the two gifted Civil War commanders from a New York Times–bestselling author: “A great story . . . History at its best” (Publishers Weekly).

Their names are forever linked in the history of the Civil War, but Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant could not have been more dissimilar. Lee came from a world of Southern gentility and aristocratic privilege while Grant had coarser, more common roots in the Midwest. As a young officer trained in the classic mold, Lee graduated from West Point at the top of his class and served with distinction in the Mexican–American War. Grant’s early military career was undistinguished and marred by rumors of drunkenness.
 
As commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, Lee’s early victories demoralized the Union Army and cemented his reputation as a brilliant tactician. Meanwhile, Grant struggled mightily to reach the top of the Union command chain. His iron will eventually helped turn the tide of the war, however, and in April 1864, President Abraham Lincoln gave Grant command of all Union forces. A year later, he accepted Lee’s surrender at the Appomattox Court House.
 
With brilliance and deep feeling, New York Times–bestselling author Gene Smith brings the Civil War era to vivid life and tells the dramatic story of two remarkable men as they rise to glory and reckon with the bitter aftermath of the bloodiest conflict in American history. Never before have students of American history been treated to a more personal, comprehensive, and achingly human portrait of Lee and Grant.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781504046909
Publisher:	Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
Publication date:	08/29/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	412
Sales rank:	697,409
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Gene Smith (1929–2012) was an acclaimed historian and biographer and the author of When the Cheering Stopped: The Last Years of Woodrow Wilson (1964), a poignant portrait of the president’s final months in the White House that spent fifteen weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Born in Manhattan and educated at the University of Wisconsin, Smith was drafted into the army and served in Germany in the early 1950s. He began his career at Newsweek and reported for the Newark Star-Ledger and the New York Post before leaving journalism to write full-time. His popular biographies include The Shattered Dream: Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression (1970), Lee and Grant: A Dual Biography (1984), and American Gothic: The Story of America’s Legendary Theatrical Family—Junius, Edwin, and John Wilkes Booth (1992). For many years, Smith and his wife and daughter lived in a house built by a Revolutionary War veteran in Pine Plains, New York, and raised thoroughbred horses.
 

Editorial Reviews

"A significant achievement . . . Vivid, interwoven biographical portraits set side by side against a sweeping historical background.” —The Washington Post
 
“Unfolds like a well-plotted novel . . . Full of telling vignettes and anecdotes . . . Gene Smith is a master.” —Houston Chronicle
 
“A brilliant, moving dual biography.” —The Columbus Dispatch
 
“A great story . . . Superb . . . History at its best.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“A fascinating side-by-side study of the two formidable men as they moved toward and through their dates with destiny.” —United Press International
 
“Compelling . . . Thrilling . . . Brings history to life.” —The Oregonian
 
“Delivers the double value that the title implies . . . A revealing portrait of two great commanders . . . Also makes the Civil War understandable and exciting.” —The Charlotte Observer
 
“A writer of consummate skill . . . the most vivid style since Bruce Catton . . . What makes this book literally sing is its author’s storytelling abilities. . . . Absolutely enthralling, quite like meeting two entirely different people whom we thought we had known intimately.” —The Washington Times Magazine
 

From the Publisher