LET US HAVE PEACE: The Life of Ulysses S. Grant

As single-volume biographies go, this could be either a good adult or a good juvenile written by a well-known Civil War buff. It is a partisan portrait, but not uncritical. Grant's virtues are not expanded on and his weaknesses are analyzed. Perhaps the most difficult part of this book for this audience is the section that deals with Grant's Presidential years. Here, the author has done an excellent job of condensing the issues and showing how and why Grant failed as an elected administrator as opposed to how he would have successfully handled the same sort of situations from an army office. There is a good balance between the facts of Grant's personal life, the Civil War years and his political career.