I was able to say in all sincerity that the same high merits distinguished both books - clarity of statement, directness, simplicity, manifest truthfulness, fairness and justice toward friend and foe alike and avoidance of flowery speech. Mark Twain: I had been comparing the memoirs with Caesar's Commentaries. Here are the opinions of some distinguished critics regarding the General's Memoirs: The handwritten manuscript of the Memoirs is in the Library of Congress, which should prove once and for all who really wrote the book. It cannot be copied by another, even a writer as gifted as Mark Twain.
His military orders, presidential papers and personal correspondence possess the identical style as his book. His style is instantly familiar and utterly unique. Dismiss the stories that Mark Twain or Grant's literary secretary secretly wrote the book while the General sat back inert. Written while dying of throat cancer, the torturous creation of this work is a great human story, as inspiring as anything Grant ever did on the battlefield.īelow are some observations about Grant's Memoirs, and the common thread is an admiration for Grant's literary style: precise, economical and interspersed with a dry wit. Even his most vocal critics find it hard to denigrate this simple, yet elegant document. Grant's book has been spared the attacks that have been directed at him in other areas of his life. As the primary first-person narrative of the Civil War, it has been scrutinized, celebrated and praised, but never damned. There is no doubt that it is the greatest book ever written by a former U. Grant's Personal Memoirs (1885) are considered a classic of American literature.
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