The

The Few Americans have scored more glorious triumphs and more devastating setbacks than Ulysses S. Grant, America's 18th president.

He was the failed businessman who became the victorious general

of the Civil War, the popular president who was plagued by scandals. He was the reluctant writer

who spent his last year suffering through the horrible pain of cancer. And despite that,

somehow wrote one of the all-time great classics

of American military history. And like many 19th century Americans, he reflected the difficult

struggle that the nation faced when it came to the issue of slavery. Our guest today,

John Reeves, has just written a book on this fascinating, contradictory figure. The book is titled

Soldier of Destiny, Secession and the Redemption of Ulysses S. Grant. And it covers just how

unlikely Grant's story was and what we can learn about it. John has taught history at numerous

colleges, including South Bank University and London

and Lehman College. And he's the author of another book on Grant's counterpart, The Lost Indictment

of Robert E. Lee. So we recommend that you definitely check those out. So John, thanks for being

on our podcast. Thanks for having me, Richard. So you start the story off

in 1854 with Grant in California. And so that's an interesting place to start the story. It's seven years

before he joins the Civil War, the union effort. So what's the story there? Yeah, well, I'll start by

saying that's one of the

reasons why I wrote the book was I was so struck by the fact that he was forced out of the army.

And in 1854, and only 10 years later rises to the very highest role in the United States

Army as a general in chief. So it's a remarkable 10-year turnaround.

So I wanted to understand that and what happened.

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