I'm enjoying an excellent biography of an interesting man, Ulysses H. Grant. (The S was a clerical error.) Surprisingly, after fighting in the Mexican-American War (which he thought imperialist), he wound up in Vancouver, Washington. (I think that was the same fort from which the half-breed Indian Ronald Macdonald went to Japan-- an odd story for another day.) Anyway, Grant planted oats and potatoes but the Columbia River came up and drowned most of his crop. It was in northern California, though, that he was drummed out of the army for drowning his own sorrows and loneliness.
That was just one of many stumbles along his own personal road to ruin. Grant had a genius for business failures, and for getting cheated by "friends." If it weren't for the Civil War (cue Walker Percy) he would have been a depressed flop. Up until the age of 39, the world in general thought him a failure.
Grant also seems to have been a kindly, honest, devout Christian, husband, and father. He did take the occasional nip or two, and could not handle his liquor. The author edges up against hagiography at times, but it seems his subject really was that unexpected subject of a biographer's craft, a decent human being. Who is remembered for massive bloodshed and for a drinking problem. Seems he deserves a far better reputation.