Ulysses S. Grant (Wister biography)

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Ulysses S. Grant is a 1900 book by Owen Wister. It is a biography of Ulysses S. Grant. It was written for the Beacon Biographies Series published by Small, Maynard & Company. Wister took on the book at the urging of his friend M. A. De Wolfe Howe.[1]

In particular, Wister's biography points-up the remarkable contrast between Grant's life up to his thirty ninth year and the transition between a relatively uneventful and undistinguished life in a provincial town to the achievement of the status of one of the most significant military generals and politicians in history. A similar contrast is then explored between the scandals that engulfed Grant's Presidency on the one hand and the rise and resurgence of his reputation on a posthumous basis. Another theme is the accidental nature of Grant's career-path and decision-making and the way in which his life was almost devoid of planning, a key element in the relationship between Grant's personality on the one hand and his achievements in public life on the other.[2]

Wister closely follows the primary source Personal Memoirs written by Grant and published by Mark Twain's publishing house.

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  1. ^ Cobbs, John L. (1984). Owen Wister. Twayne Publishers. p. 22. ISBN 9780805774160. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  2. ^ Bercovitch and Patell (eds) (2005). The Cambridge History of American Literature: Volume 3, Prose Writing, 1860-1920. Cambridge University Press. p. 437. ISBN 0521301076. Retrieved 27 June 2014. {{cite book}}: |last1= has generic name (help)

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