BOOK REVIEW

Title: Grant

Author: Max Byrd

In ten words or less: Civil War vet and reporter covers the 1880 presidential campaign.

Review: This historical novel covers the final years of the life of Ulysses S. Grant, former Civil War general and 18th president of the United States. Reporter Nat Trist, a Union veteran who lost an arm at Cold Harbor, is assigned to cover the 1880 election. Grant, just returned from a world tour, and the most celebrated man in America, is rumored to be considering a run for an unprecedented third term. The author brings to life Grant and his contemporaries, including William T. Sherman, Henry Adams, and Mark Twain.

Why bother? Very good glimpse at life inside American politics in the 1880s.