Book Review: Grant and Lee

At the beginning of the year, you may recall that I read and reviewed Ulysses S. Grant: A Victor, Not a Butcher. In that work, the author discussed some works that he had used as sources, and I read this descriptive bibliography assiduously and made notes of books that I would like to read that he mentioned. One of those books was Grant and Lee, by JFC Fuller. Thus, I was delighted when I saw this work on the shelves at Shiloh when I visited there earlier this month. I didn't even hesitate before picking it up, and I read it almost immediately (mostly because I started and then was hooked!) I'm currently reading another of his books, The Generalship of Ulysses S. Grant.

Book Review
Fuller, J.F.C. Grant and Lee: A Study in Personality and Generalship. Indiana University Press. 1957. 2nd Edition. 323p. Bibliography, maps, index. ISBN: 9780253202888.

Major General J.F.C. Fuller (British Army) began writing about the Civil War in the years after the first World War. Grant and Lee (first edition published 1933) grew out of research that he had done for his previous work, the The Generalship of Ulysses S. Grant. When he started these works, he held the view common to many people of them - and, despite almost a century of debunking, the views of many people now - that Confederate General Robert E. Lee was a brilliant strategist, tactician and general, and that Union General Ulysses S. Grant was a careless hack who would have failed to win the war if not for the North's vast wealth of resources and manpower. By the time he had finished his research, though, Fuller had done a complete 180 on his views of these two men. In Grant and Lee, Fuller uses extensive research - primarily using the Official Records of the War, various memoirs and biographies, and other sources commonly available at the time - to demonstrate how skillfully Grant managed his troops, and at the same time how often inept Lee was when times called for a forceful, decisive commander. The events are described chronologically, and the stories of both commanders are told simultaneously throughout the course of the war, alternating between each narrative when the two are in different theaters. Fuller's work is justly a classic of the field: his arguments are incisive, his research extensive, his historiography strong, and his own expertise as a general and theoretician help strengthen the validity of everything he says. What makes the book a delight to read, though, is his witty writing style and no-holds-barred willingness to state his opinion of his subjects. For example, when describing the Confederate plan for the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Fuller says flat out, "this was a thoroughly bad plan," and then goes on to explore the reasons why. In an age when much scholarly writing hems and haws at making value judgements, tip toes around directness, or provides "just the facts" and leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions, it is thoroughly refreshing to read Fuller's down-to-earth writing style. For that, and for the value of his insights, I found this book to be a page turner, and I read it in three days flat - and was reluctant every time I had to put it down.

A classic for all the right reasons, this is the book to hand any body who tries to tell you that Grant is a thoughtless butcher or that Lee is the greatest general in US History.

Rating: 5 out of 5.