The Sunday Question

How do you view Ulysses S. Grant and his legacy?

The Man in Grant’s Tomb

Sometimes friends disagree, and this is one of those cases where they do.

Today on Salon there appears a commentary by Joan Waugh offering a summary of Ulysses S. Grant’s life story and an assessment of how Americans remember him.  According to Waugh, they don’t hold him in very high esteem, despite the fact that he was such an important figure in American history.  After all, she contends, Grant’s record is one of signal accomplishment and laudable intent, between preserving the Union, assisting in the destruction of slavery, advocating black rights, and overseeing reunification.

And yet, despite all of this, Grant’s legacy today is largely forgotten.

Othering (continued)

A few days ago I offered what I saw as a mildly interesting exercise in the art and practice of “othering” — that is, of constructing an image of what someone supposes the “other guy” believes in order to justify oneself.  Perhaps I was being a little too subtle, a little too indirect.  Some people wondered whether I had composed the piece: I can assure you I haven’t.