Arthur Johnson Memorial Library

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U.S. Grant :

by Waugh, Joan
Series: Civil War America Published by : University of North Carolina Press, (Chapel Hill :) Physical details: 373 p. : ill., maps ; 25 cm. ISBN:9780807833179 (cloth : alk. paper); 0807833177 (cloth : alk. paper). Year: 2009
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900 - 999 Book Cart 973.82092 Wau (Browse shelf) Available 95064

Includes bibliographical references and index

The magnanimous general -- A great soldier might be a baby politician -- The most famous living American -- Historian of the union cause -- Pageantry of woe: the funeral of U.S. Grant -- The nation's greatest hero should rest in the nation's greatest city -- Who's [really] buried in Grant's tomb?

Ulysses S. Grant was the most famous person in America, considered by most citizens to be equal in stature to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Yet today his monuments are rarely visited, his military reputation is overshadowed by that of Robert E. Lee, and his presidency is permanently mired at the bottom of historical rankings. Waugh shows that Grant's reputation and place in public memory closely parallel the rise and fall of the northern version of the Civil War story. During this social transformation, Grant's public image changed as well. By the 1920s, his reputation had plummeted. Most Americans today are unaware of how revered Grant was in his lifetime.

95064