General Grant: By Matthew Arnold with a Rejoinder by Mark Twain

The editor has placed the dispute between Arnold and Twain in its historical perspective. The volume is especially significant because it adds a new dimension to Grant; it places him in relation to the literary men of that era. Robert A. Waller, Civil War HistoryGeneral Grant by Matthew Arnold with a Rejoinder by Mark Twain presents conflicting essays and cultures. Matthew Arnold s 1886 essay on Grant praised the general and his posthumously published Memoirs, but to many Americans its tone seemed patronizing of their hero and country. Grant s friend and personal benefactor, Mark Twain, delivered a caustic rejoinder to the Army and Navy Club of Connecticut in April 1887. Thus Arnold became a pet prejudice of Twain s and may have served as an inspiration for A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur s Court.In this volume, Twain s rejoinder is published in a correct text for the first time since the Hartford Courant printed his speech.