Oct 08, 2025
The latest book by Dr. Chris Mackowski, professor of Journalism and Mass Communication in the Jandoli School, offers a reader-friendly, intro-level overview of Union General Ulysses S. Grant’s wartime career.
During the Civil War, Grant earned the nickname “Unconditional Surrender” – a play on his initials – after he captured an entire Confederate army in February 1862. It was the first major northern victory of the war, and it made Grant a household name, North and South.
The victory led to a string of other achievements that eventually ended the war in 1865 and put Grant in the White House in 1868.
The book, “Unconditional Surrender: Ulysses S. Grant in the Civil War,” is co-authored by Dr. Curt Fields, a member of the board of directors of the Ulysses S. Grant Association. As the nation’s foremost Grant “living historian,” Fields travels the country doing first-person portrayals of Grant. “Unconditional Surrender” was released in August by Savas Beatie, LLC.