U s grant biography mark twain

Autobiography of Ulysses S. Grant

The Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant are an autobiography, in two volumes, of Ulysses S.

Grant, the 18th President of the United States.

U s grant biography mark twain

The work focuses on his military career during the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. The volumes were written in the last year of Grant's life, amid increasing pain from terminal throat cancer and against the backdrop of his personal bankruptcy at the hands of an early Ponzi scheme.

The set was published by Mark Twain shortly after Grant's death in July 1885.

Twain was a close personal friend of Grant and used his fame and talent to promote the books. Understanding that sales of the book would restore the Grant family's finances and provide for his widow, Twain created a unique marketing system designed to reach millions of veterans with a patriotic appeal just as the famous general's death was being mourned.

Ten thousand agents canvassed the North for orders