Memoirs by U.S. Grant - not what I expected at all.”
Can you elaborate? I have only sampled them, largely because of the reputation (”the greatest war memoir since Caesar”).
I recall a sort of simple elegant prose, plenty of detail, but not a lot of ornamentation. But, again, I only sampled briefly...interested in your line there about not being what you expected.
Grant didn't want to be a soldier, he wanted to be a mathematics instructor at West Point. He despised the Mexican War in which he fought and stated very bluntly that he considered it fraudulent, admired Robert E. Lee a very great deal, knew a fair number of the other Confederate commanders as fellow junior officers. The butt of most of his jokes is himself. It's actually a pretty easy read.