Reconstruction is the great black hole that remains to be filled. Even experts on the Civil War don't really understand its full… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“Both Grant and Sherman were damaged souls who would redeem tarnished reputations in the brutal crucible of war.” — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“Neither he nor anyone else could have predicted that this overweight, rheumatic, vain, pompous, gluttonous inebriate would be so ardent in battle.” — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
In many ways, the North won the Civil War militarily and then lost the peace. You know, a group of writers, included… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“Johnson had unleashed the political equivalent of an act of war against Congress. Retaliating against the president’s violation of the Tenure of… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“Hamilton has often been extolled as the exponent of a rational foreign policy based on cool calculations of national self-interest. But his… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“raiders, the United States wanted Great Britain to foot the bill for the entire war cost after Gettysburg, some $2 billion, the… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“His military triumphs had been neither frequent nor epic in scale. He had lost more battles than he had won, had botched… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“In Julia’s view, the Dent slaves were all “very happy. At least they were in mamma’s time, though the young ones became… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“The feud between Sherman and Stanton exposed a deep fissure that would shortly divide the country over Reconstruction. With the war ending,… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“On August 5, he sent Stanton a one-sentence letter: “Public considerations of a high character constrain me to say, that your resignation… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“At 8:08 a.m. on July 23, 1885, Grant died so gently that nobody was quite certain at first that his spirit had… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“Having been battered by the world in his earlier years, he had come to rely on family and friends and never forgot… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“At forty-six, Grant was still trim and fit, the youngest man elected president until then. Having weathered the crucible of war, he… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“The funeral was a vast, elaborate affair, befitting a monarch or head of state, in marked contrast to the essential simplicity of… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“FROM THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR, Abraham Lincoln recognized the pivotal role of Kentucky, a centrally located buffer state between North and… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“After the French and Indian War, the British vacillated about whether to swap all of Canada for the island of Guadeloupe; in… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“Grant notified the president that he had vacated the office and no longer functioned as war secretary. Faced with this fait accompli,… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“In other words, Julia still believed in the beneficial effects of tobacco long after her husband had likely died from it. Even grimacing with… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“Right before his inauguration, he received a Quaker delegation and asked them to nominate Indian agents from their members. “If you can make Quakers… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“Grant roomed with Fred Dent, who also singled out Grant as “the clearest headed young man I ever saw . . . He always wanted to do… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
The richly cadenced prose is hypnotic, the research prodigious, the analysis acute, the mood spellbinding, and the cast of characters mythic in scale. I… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“Hamilton has often been extolled as the exponent of a rational foreign policy based on cool calculations of national self-interest. But his April 14… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“While the folks at home embraced him as an improbable hero, Washington was denigrated in England as a reckless young warrior and in France… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“the immorality of slavery became patently clear that spring. He had acquired from Colonel Dent the mulatto slave named William Jones who had worked… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“As his life steadily unraveled, he pawned his gold watch and chain for $20 on December 23, 1857, to purchase Christmas presents for his… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“Grant had overwhelmingly won the electoral vote, and had garnered the largest popular majority of the century, nearly 56 percent of the vote, the… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“The chief quartermaster on the West Coast, Robert Allen, an old friend of Grant’s, learned he was holed up in a cheap miner’s hotel… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“Returning to his Manhattan town house on Christmas Eve, Grant, sixty-one, pivoted to hand the driver a holiday tip when he slipped on the… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
“When he bet Julia that she wouldn’t dare to descend into the mine, located seventeen hundred feet below, it roused her fighting spirit and… — Ron Chernow Copy Share Image
