Written in the early twentieth century for her children and grandchildren and first published in 1975, these eloquent memoirs detail the life of General Ulysses S. Grant’s wife. First Lady Julia Dent Grant wrote her reminiscences with the vivacity and charm she exhibited throughout her life, telling her story in the easy flow of an afternoon conversation with a close friend. She writes fondly of White Haven, a plantation in St. Louis County, Missouri, where she had an idyllic girlhood and later met Ulysses. In addition to relating the joys she experienced, Grant tells about the difficult and sorrowful times. Her anecdotes give fascinating glimpses into the years of the American Civil War. One recounts the night President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Grant insisted she and her husband turn down an invitation to the theater. Her decision saved her husband’s life: like Lincoln, he too had been marked for assassination. Throughout these memoirs, which she ends with her husband’s death, Grant seeks to introduce her descendants to both her and the man she loved. She also strives to correct misconceptions that were circulated about him. She wanted posterity to share her pride in this man, whom she saw as one of America’s greatest heroes. Her book is a testament to their devoted marriage. This forty-fifth-anniversary edition includes a new foreword by John F. Marszalek and Frank J. Williams, a new preface by Pamela K. Sanfilippo, the original foreword by Bruce Catton, the original introduction by editor John Y. Simon, recommendations for further reading, and more than twenty photographs of the Grants, their children, and their friends. "Certainly this book is a literary and historic find, an engrossing book that reaffirms what historians have long known—that Julia and her famous husband had a loving and richly supportive relationship."— PublishersWeekly "Her charm, which is perhaps best expressed in the rambling conversational style of the book, is such that the reader is left with a sense of great loss at not having had the opportunity to have made Mrs. Grant's acquaintance."— Chicago Tribune "She spins a story of romantic love, of happiness, of contentment, and there is no reason to doubt that she worked hard to make this possible both for herself and 'my dear Ulys.'"— New York Times "Julia Dent Grant's memoirs are just perfect. This book combines history, love, personal insights, and a unique feminine viewpoint with one of America's most turbulent eras."— West Coast Review of Books "Whatever happened to the old-fashioned love story? Well, you will find it in full bloom in The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant , edited by John Y. Simon. That is only one facet of the book."— Wall Street Journal Many of the anecdotes she relates give fascinating glimpses into a very troubled period of American History. A dramatic reminiscence recounts the night that Lincoln was assassinated. Mrs. Grant insisted that she and her husband turn down an invitation to the theater in favor of returning home. It saved her husband's life: he had also been marked for assassination.   John Y. Simon (1933-2008) , was a professor of history at Southern Illinois University, the executive director and managing editor for thirty-one of the thirty-two-volumes that comprise The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant , for which he was awarded the prestigious Lincoln Prize. He wrote four books, edited several essay collections, and wrote dozens of articles and chapters in other books. FOREWORD TO THE ANNIVERSARY EDITION John F. Marszalek and Frank J. Williams   The most famous memoirs in American history continue to be those published in 1885–86 by General and later President Ulysses S. Grant. Although the book covered only his time as general in the Civil War, the fact is that later American presidents, up to and including Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, did not undertake to write their own memoirs without first looking at Grant’s.   Before the twentieth century, First Ladies usually had not taken the opportunity to present their own insights into their lives with their spouses, but Julia Dent Grant, Ulysses’s wife, took the lead in doing so late in the nineteenth century and into the early part of the twentieth. Yet her memoirs were not published until historian John Y. Simon, in cooperation with Grant descendants, undertook that task in 1975. The Julia Grant memoirs presented her thoughts on life with one of the major figures of the latter part of the nineteenth century and actually included more detailed descriptions and personal insights than Grant’s own memoirs.   Simon’s work on the monumental multivolume work  The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant  ( PUSG ), is well known, but his work in bringing Julia Dent Grant’s memoirs to light should not be overlooked.   It is not possible to understand the importance of Julia Dent Grant’s memoirs without understanding the milieu in which they were finally published in 1975. Earl