Publisher's Weekly Review
Palgrave's Great Generals series continues with this sketchy, unbalanced homage to the Union war hero. Military historian Mosier (The Myth of the Great War) focuses on Grant's Civil War exploits, emphasizing his brilliant early victories and glossing over the bloody 1864 campaign when his generalship dimmed. A brief section on his presidency dubiously calls Grant "our most undervalued president." Mosier offers a good pr?cis of Grant's virtues: his ability to translate penetrating strategic insights into vigorous, well-coordinated operations; his imperturbable coolness in the face of reverses; an energy and combativeness unmatched by other Union generals (especially his nominal superior, the conniving "good for nothing" Henry Halleck). But he flirts with hagiography, portraying Grant as both a military genius who eclipsed even Napoleon and as a great commoner whose very ordinariness made him the personification of American democracy-in-arms. His reverence leads to a number of historical misjudgments, like his contention that Grant never lost a battle, which overlooks Union set backs at Cold Harbor and Petersburg, and his baffling claim that "no Union general besides Grant was able to mount successful offensive operations." Indeed, Mosier's severest criticism is of the general's "too trusting belief in the goodness of his fellow men." Grant's achievements were real enough to make such obfuscating overstatements unnecessary. Photos. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
In this precis of Grant's generalship, military historian Mosier argues that his subject deserves historical stature equal to that of Wellington and other prominent war leaders of the past two centuries. In victories, the undefeated Grant is in their league, yet readers are reminded, as Mosier develops his position, that Grant's reputation is still disparaged. The criticism is of two types: that Grant was careless of casualties, and that his victories resulted from material superiority, not battlefield brilliance. Building his case around detailed analysis of the initial battles Grant fought, Shiloh in particular, Mosier demonstrates that Grant's numerical advantage was trivial and that he only rarely ordered frontal assaults, the basis of the butcher charge. Praising Grant's tactical visualization of terrain and imperturbability under fire, Mosier proceeds to contrast favorably Grant's strategic conception for defeating the Confederacy with that of military intellectuals such as the Union's Henry Halleck. A persuasive second installment in the publisher's Great Generals series, inaugurated by Alan Axelrod's Patton (2006). --Gilbert Taylor Copyright 2006 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Mosier (The Myth of the Great War) delivers an engaging biography of Ulysses S. Grant as general that will appeal to a popular audience. While lacking the extensive detail found in more lengthy works on Grant, this contribution to Palgrave's "Great Generals" series provides a solid assessment of Grant's military life and the particular skills that enabled him to be, Mosier feels, an officer of genius. The quick narrative makes the book an effortless read. While a good deal of the text is devoted to Grant's leadership in the Mexican and Civil wars, Mosier includes broader personal information, such as how Grant's name morphed from Hiram Ulysses Grant to Ulysses S. Grant and the stories of his reputed heavy drinking. For lay readers, these details are important in humanizing Grant and defining his great military leadership, shaped, as Mosier shows, in Grant's early campaigns. Well researched and informative, this book is completed with a time line, a foreword by series editor Gen. Wesley K. Clark, black-and-white photographs, and extensive chapter notes. Highly recommended for public and undergraduate libraries of all sizes.-Gena Moore, Central Piedmont Community Coll. Lib., Charlotte, NC (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
