Chernow asserts that both Grant's command of the Overland campaign and his presidency have been seen in an undeservedly negative light.

But to my mind, the big story of his presidency is he's really farsighted in courageous action in terms of protecting ... former slaves who are now full-fledged American citizens.

[1] His drinking habit, which did not adversely affect his military campaigns, became a central focus of Gilded Age historians.

Prior to beginning his research for the book, Chernow himself had even bought into the prevailing view; in an earlier biography of John D. Rockefeller, he called Grant "an inept president" and described him as "a small-town businessman before the war, who was enamored of the rich, no matter how frequently they tried to fleece him.

He writes the way Grant fought: lacking elegance of means, he covers an immense area of ground, thoroughly and relentlessly, capturing his objectives one by one.