A short history of the politics of Reconstruction
In The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant: Preserving the Civil War’s Legacy, historian Paul Kahan focuses on the unique political, economic, and cultural forces unleashed by the Civil War and how Grant addressed these issues during his tumultuous two terms as chief executive. A timely reassessment, The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant sheds new light on the business of politics in the decade after the Civil War and portrays an energetic and even progressive executive whose legacy has been overshadowed by both his wartime service and his administration’s many scandals.
Praise for The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant
“Paul Kahan paints a revealing portrait of a man often confounded by the Presidency, but one who shaped it in profound ways. He shrewdly takes us from Reconstruction to America’s Centennial, when Ulysses S. Grant strove to enhance rights for African Americans, strengthen the Union, and maintain the peace—all against the tumultuous backdrop of post-Civil War upheaval, westward expansion, Washington scandals, economic strife, and foreign-affair entanglements. The conventional wisdom is that Grant was a brilliant general and, at best, a mediocre president. Paul Kahan’s book should change your thinking—his Grant is flawed, yes, but someone who, at his core, believed in and fought for the principles of equality and justice.”
—Stephen Puleo, author of American Treasures, The Caning, and Dark Tide