GRANT

[Sally]

In my reading over the last several years, I have developed more appreciation for Grant. Closer inspection of the historical record does seem to indicate that the stories of his excessive drinking have been exagerrated. As I understand it, his documented episodes of drunkeness were not brought on by a huge amount of alcohol, but rather by his inability to process it like other men who were drinking every bit (and more) than he. And it is also often pointed out that he only took to drink when he was lonely for his family.

I like this quote from the article:

"Grant was also a great writer, as anyone who has read his autobiography can attest. It is hard, perhaps impossible, to be a great writer if you’re stupid. There is a certain irony in the fact that Grant was a better writer–a better historian, in fact–than virtually all of the historians who have assailed his supposed intellectual shortcomings. One wonders whether they had the wit to notice."