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Hey, history lovers.

I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

You've probably heard that former first lady Michelle Obama has just published a memoir about her life and the eight chaotic years her family spent in the White

House. Obama's book will be an instant bestseller, just like every other memoir by a

first lady. But one first lady didn't have a particularly good experience in the world of

publishing. In fact, her memoir wasn't

even published in her lifetime. Julia Grant, wife of Ulysses S. Grant. And that's surprising,

of course, because Mrs. Grant wasn't exactly married to a minor character in history.

Besides serving as the country's 18th president, Grant, as you might recall, also led the

Union Army to victory in the American Civil War.

Still, she couldn't get her book published, even with the help of the couple's close friend, the famous writer Mark Twain.

Why? Well, authors have wrestled with the whims of publishers since the day Gutenberg began operating his press, so it might be a fool's errand and attempting to figure it out. But Civil War

scholars, including the late John Simon, have speculated some fault rested with her, that she

got cold feet or became discouraged when publishers didn't offer a lot of money.

And her husband's memoir was so intimate and dramatic that some publishers wondered if there was

anything really she could add. Mrs. Grant was crushed and expressed her sorrow to a friend

in a letter.

She wrote, my book, my book on which I have worked so hard for the last three long years.

...