Books like Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant

01

Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

James M. McPherson · History

James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom, published in 1988, is the standard one-volume history of the Civil War era and won the Pulitzer Prize in the year of its publication.

Shares military strategy and national identity with Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant.

02

Grant

Ron Chernow · Biography

Ron Chernow's biography of Ulysses S.

Both dig into civil war.

03

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

Doris Kearns Goodwin · Biography

Doris Kearns Goodwin's account of Abraham Lincoln's formation of his cabinet — which included his three main rivals for the 1860 Republican nomination: William Seward, Salmon Chase, and Edward Bates — is one of the most widely discussed leadership books of the twenty-first century and one of the most readable biographies of the Lincoln era.

Shares leadership and civil war with Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant.

04

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin · Memoir

Benjamin Franklin's autobiography is one of the earliest and most influential self-improvement texts in American literature, written in four separate parts across the last decades of his life.

A kindred memoir read.

05

Strategy: The Indirect Approach

B. H. Liddell Hart · History

Strategy: The Indirect Approach, first published in 1929 and substantially revised and expanded through a definitive 1954 edition, is Basil Liddell Hart's argument that the most effective military strategies throughout history have been indirect — working around an opponent's strength rather than against it — and that direct confrontation, however courageous, tends to be costly and inconclusive.

Shares leadership and military strategy with Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant.

06

The Civil War: A Narrative

Shelby Foote · History

Shelby Foote spent twenty years writing this three-volume, 1.5-million-word account of the American Civil War, and the result is one of the most ambitious narrative history projects ever attempted by a single author.

Shares leadership and national identity with Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant.

07

A Promised Land

Barack Obama · Memoir

A Promised Land is the first volume of Barack Obama's presidential memoirs, covering his 2008 campaign through the first two and a half years of his presidency, ending with the killing of Osama bin Laden in May 2011.

Both dig into leadership.

08

Bossypants

Tina Fey · Memoir

Bossypants is Tina Fey's memoir and comic essay collection about her upbringing in suburban Pennsylvania, her years doing improv comedy in Chicago, her time as a writer and head writer at Saturday Night Live, her creation of 30 Rock, and the experience of being a woman in charge in show business.

Both dig into leadership.

09

Long Walk to Freedom

Nelson Mandela · Memoir

Nelson Mandela's autobiography traces his life from a rural Xhosa childhood in the Transkei to his release from prison in 1990 after twenty-seven years of incarceration, and ends with his election as South Africa's first democratically chosen president in 1994.

Both dig into leadership.

10

Accelerate

Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim · Business

Accelerate is the research-backed account of what actually makes software delivery teams fast without sacrificing stability.

Both dig into leadership.

11

American Moonshot

Douglas Brinkley · History

Douglas Brinkley's American Moonshot focuses less on the engineering triumph of Apollo 11 than on the political decision that made it possible: John F.

Both dig into leadership.

12

Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity

Frank Slootman · Business

Amp It Up is Frank Slootman's account of how he approaches leading organizations through rapid growth.

Both dig into leadership.