This massive-almost nine hundred pages-book is an almost day by day, detailed record of her ten- and one-half years in office.  It is an amazing record of battles won and lost, almost impossible accomplishments set against her own country’s deep state, bureaucracy, entrenched interests and ossified political thinking.  Her record of successes on the foreign front is also detailed as she fought for the primary interests of her nation against European neighbors by  reducing uneven payments (in short, cutting welfare payments to France, Germany, etc.), a successful war with Argentina, leading the way in punishing Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait, etc.  Plain spoken, sure of her goals, she was, in my opinion, a pre-tweet version of Donald Trump.

A lengthy biography of General and President Ulysses S. Grant (given name, Hiram Ulysses Grant), Mr. Chernow is enamored with the General.  Yet, it is hard to dispute that in many ways, both as General and as President, earlier revisionist historians and biographers have done a great disservice to Grant.