Grant and Twain: The Story of an American Friendship

Author Mark Perry tells the story of the publishing collaboration between Ulysses S. Grant and Mark Twain in “Grant and Twain: The Story of a Friendship That Changed America” (2004). The subtitle may sound a bit overstated, but it’s not; as large as each of them loom in American military and literary history respectively, their friendship resulted in something of almost mythic proportions.Grant’s work would come to be seen as the best military memoir since Caesar’s “Gallic Wars;” its straightforward, concise style would set the example for every military memoir that came after. And it was the Grant-Twain friendship that helped Twain to finally break the writer’s block on a story he had started and then set aside a decade earlier, one called “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” The story of Grant and Twain’s friendship and collaboration is a significant and remarkable chapter of American literary history. And Perry tells it a lively, highly readable, and intriguing fashion.“Grant and Twain” provides the basic story of the lives of both men. Grant, several years older, was born and raised in Ohio, attended West Point, and served in the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War. He left military service and lived in St. Louis, where his in-laws resided (right next to the suburban St. Louis biking trail I’ve traveled hundreds of times). He wasn’t much of a success at farming, and he re-enlists when the Civil War began. He was in command at some of the bloodiest engagements in the western theater of war – Shiloh and Vicksburg. President Lincoln appointed him commander of the Northern armies and he began to doggedly tear away at Robert E. Lee’s position in Virginia.After the Confederate defeat, Grant was elected President twice. His administrations were marked by horrible scandals and corruption, but none ever touched Grant himself. He moved to New York City and became a partner in an investment house partially owned by his son.Twain was born and raised in northeastern Missouri, with a biography inevitably tied to the Mississippi River. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he joined a rather irregular Confederate unit, but he soon realized he wanted no part of military life. His brother was appointed to a federal post in Nevada, and Twain accompanied him, trying prospecting and other activities before settling in on one in which he excelled – newspaper reporting. He returned east after the end of the war, continued writing, married, and settled in Hartford, Connecticut. Twain was always on the lookout for money-making ventures, virtually all of which lost money, and often major amounts of money. And so, he would take to the lecture circuit, becoming one of the best-known public speakers in America.Grant’s investment house collapsed in 1883, and the former general and American hero faced bankruptcy. Worse still, he was diagnosed with tongue and throat cancer, and he faced the prospect of death and having nothing to provide his wife Julia and family with. He reluctantly accepted what had been urged upon him for years – to write his memoirs. He found a publisher and began the work.Twain knew something about publishing in the Gilded Age, and he realized that Grant’s publisher knew nothing about the important role serialization could play, both to provide income and to set the stage for the entire edition of the memoirs. He convinced Grant, shortly before he was to sign his publishing contract, to switch to the publishing firm operated by Twain’s nephew. It was a wise move. Grant’s first publisher thought the memoirs could bring Grant as much as #25,000 or even $30,000. Twain saw that as a ridiculously low number, and he was right; Grant’s family would realize more than $300,000 from the serialization and publication.And thus began a race against time – for Grant to finish his manuscript before his medical condition incapacitated him. Twain served as one of the editors, but he made virtually no changes; Grant had a natural writing style that almost seemed to edit itself. And in the process, Twain was inspired to resurrect that story he had put away years before, because he couldn’t figure out how to get Jim the runaway slave and Huck Finn to go south to find freedom for Jim.It's a stirring story. Everyone involved became convinced that the only thing that kept Grant alive as long as he did was the intense focus on the writing.Perry received degrees from the Northwestern Military and Naval Academy and Boston University. He has written extensively on military history, foreign affairs, and intelligence and security.“Grant and Twain” tells the story of how two men became friends, fellow writers, and business partners to the benefit of both – but especially to the benefit of posterity.

Mark Perry does an excellent job of relating the relationship between President Grant and Mark Twain. His research and insights on the process of Grant writing his memoirs puts the reader in the room with the former General as he races against his illness and finishing his memoirs. I immediately purchased General Grant's book to read his memories myself. So glad I did. He was such a greater man than I was taught in school.

I read this as a follow up to Jean Edward Smith's excellent biography on Grant. I wanted a book that focused on Grant's last year when he wrote his memoirs and then had perhaps the largest, most celebrated funeral ever in New York. The former was only lightly addressed in Smith's book and the latter was oddly absent.I got what I was looking for and it was satisfying reading. Grant's dignity, humility, drive and heroic effort to write while suffering so badly from cancer of the throat is truly inspiring. I am reading his memoirs now and they are as fresh as the day they were published.As a story this is well written and an easy, interesting read. But I found two things that bothered me. First was how much overlap there was with Smith's book. (Smith's book was published in 2001 about 3 years before Perry's). While he acknowledges Smith's book in the bibliography and he has clearly done a ton of original research it just seemed odd to see at least a dozen exact "quote for quote" anecdotes in both books .Secondly, the relationship between Grant and Twain may have influenced Twain greatly but it's not clear it was a real two way friendship. Grant was very sick. Whatever energy he had was focused on his writings to give some inheritance to his family. It's not obvious that he was giving as much thought to Twain as the author would like to think. Obviously he deeply appreciated Twain publishing the book but he had other offers on the table anyway; albeit on much less generous terms.What is very clear from Perry's book is that Grant did write his Memoirs. In debunking the myth that Twain or others wrote it he has done a great service to Grant and historians. Grant's Memoirs are regularly cited as amongst the best non-fiction writings in American history and perhaps the best first person account on war in all history. We are fortunate that he wrote it and he deserves all the credit!

Fantastic book. More about Grant than Twain. Grant is a vastly underrated and a much maligned man. Reading of his slow death is very said. He was only 64.

After reading numerous biographies on Grant I was intrigued to know more about the writing of his memoirs. This book covers the convergence of two great writers of the nineteenth century, one writing a military masterpiece, the other perhaps the best fiction for all time.Twain, fascinated with Grant, manipulates a deal to publish his memoir. As the urgency of the project proceeds due to Grant's illness the men become closer friends. We will not know their intimate conversations, but as Twain spent time with the general he became intoxicated Grant's distinctive personality. Fighting through the grim reality of a terminal disease, Grant wrote for hours, while Twain had his own challenge with Huckleberry Finn.This book relates the story of a brief but remarkable friendship between two men who struggled to write the works which in the end defined their lives.Well done, and for admirers of both Ulysses S. Grant and Mark Twain a poignant read.

I gave my thoughts on this in my review of Grant's two volume Memoirs, so the brevity of this review is not a reflection on my admiration. This is an insight into Grant, especially his last agonizing days of writing his memoirs while dying of an extremely painful cancer; of the personality of Grant reflected in his response to being swindled of his entire fortune by a swindler; of the side(s) of Twain not so noticeable in his historically important writings. I will just say if you want to know more about Grant and more about Twain read this book.

This was a wonderful read. History, Biography and a first class insight to the American Civil War. It was very well written in an easy style that kept your interest through both men’s life story. This is no heavy read nor is it a light read; it lets you see both men as interesting, determined and human beings. I would recommend this as a book to hard a winter’s night or even a warm beach in summer, go on give it a go.

Whilst i have not followed the life of Grant to the same extent, Mark Twain is my favourite author. I found this book fascinating not least because of the 'friendship' they shared but of the period in American history it covers. I recommend this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, detailing the lives of two extraordinary men who became the greatest of friends and both rightly admired throughout the world. In General Grant I have a new hero. And I realise that in the 60 plus years since I read about Huck Finn too much has been lost and I must read it again,this time with benefit of a greater understanding,thanks to Mark Perry's excellent writing.