Has Ulysses asked Grant's presidency been unfairly treated by history?

Biographer Ron Turner will be here to talk about his new book, Grant.

When did New York become the city it is today?

History and Mike Wallace will join us to talk about Greater Gotham, his follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Gotham.

Alexander Alter will tell us about the latest goings-on in the literary world,

and we'll talk about what we and the wider world are reading.

This is Inside the New York Times Booker View. I'm Pamela Paul.

Ron Chernow joins us now. His latest biography is of Ulysses. That's Grant.

Thanks for being here, Ron.

Pleasure to be here.

How do you choose your subjects because you, of course, have written

baguages of the warburgs of Hamilton of Washington and now Grant?

Well, I never want to write a biography about somebody just because it's an interesting yarn,

or even just because it's a fascinating life. I'm kind of looking at people

who might think have created the basic building blocks of American society.

So I'm looking for characters who really embody a big trend, a big movement in American life.

So the attraction of Ulysses' S. Grant for me was that he really is the figure

who unites the Civil War and Reconstruction. To my mind, they're two acts of the same draw.

And the interesting thing is Pamela, there are so many Americans who know the Civil War

in the most intimate details. They know every battle field, every general.

And they know little next to nothing about Reconstruction.

Don't know about Reconstruction. You know everything about Civil War.

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