Yikes, this book took my nearly 1 year to finish. Worth it? If for nothing more than a test of my endurance, yes, however, there’s more than I took away from it that that.

As any good biography does well, I felt like I got to know Grant over the past year of reading this story. I won’t regurgitate my intake here, but will share a few nuggets that stuck with me.

• Grant was “near penniless” after his presidency and took a loan from Vanderbilt to stay afloat. It somehow doesn’t register with me that someone who we regard as one of the best military men of all time, and then one of the most powerful people in the world could fall into financial disaster. Entertainers and athletes, I understand. They have expensive appetite and are sometimes thrust into the spotlight prior to being ready, but Grant had no such appetites and plenty of brushes with the private sector.

To his credit, most of his financial misgivings are attributed to bad luck and being taken advantage of. It seemed like there occurred another financial swindling by his inner circle every other chapter without relent; is there no way to learn?

In retrospect, I’m sure I’m oversimplifying the ability to stray from financial swindling at that time. I image that with each event, the desperation rises. After a few consecutive steps into financial turmoil, the increased desperation makes it all the more likely a trap can grab you and the cycle continues.

It does make me wonder, could this happen to any US President today (and in the future)? - The ability(?) to not fear death seems more important a characteristic than any other in Grant’s rise. It’s hard to say if this is a good thing or not in my opinion, but clearly, his lack of hesitancy as a leader to expose himself in battle to gunfire gained him respect from his troops.

With warfare presently not fought hand-to-hand in most cases, does this characteristic show any positives in today’s world? Is there an upside to not fear death nowadays? - I have never read two different biographies of the same person. It’s just now occurred to me what a fruitful exercise that might be. - I ended up visiting Delmonico’s a few weeks ago as a result of discovery from Grant. If it was good enough for him, it’s good enough for me (though he probably wasn’t too picky).