A Gay Life in the Shadow of Ulysses S. Grant
Memoire
Ulysses Grant Dietz
Oct 1, 2021
Kindle
356
Amazon
I grew up Grant because Ulysses was too dangerous a name to call a kid in the 1950s, when conformity ruled, and Ulysses S. Grant's reputation was in the toilet. My given name Ulysses, however, ended up defining me as I was coming out in the early 1970s, altering my relationship with the world. On my father's side, an Alsatian immigrant to Colonial New York and, on my mother's, a Puritan dissenter seeking freedom on the Mayflower, added romance to my bland Leave it to Beaver life in Syracuse, New York in the 1960s.
My world was a snapshot of prosperous, suburban Post-War America for a baker's dozen of years, until two of my siblings died and I realized, at sixteen, that I was gay.
The distillation of the lives of all those people who preceded me is the story of a baby boomer and a child of Stonewall; a Yalie who marched for gay pride in the 1970s, survived the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, adopted children in the 1990s, and finally married his Jewish partner of thirty-eight years in the twenty-first century.
The people who made me who I am today are always on my mind. They danced on the edge of the Gilded Age after the Civil War and helped define the American dream for three centuries. Among them were farmers, leather tanners, inventors, slaveowners, abolitionists, soldiers, industrialists, politicians, lawyers, a Nobel Prize winner, a president and even a princess. They're all there in me. My story is their story, yet entirely my own.
Review By Dave Wilson
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
This book is a strong mix of biographical aspects of Ulysses S. Grant and his descendants as well as autobiographical elements of the author Ulysses Dietz. As such, each chapter is a bit different from the next, ultimately exposing the reader to the many facets of Mr. Dietz’s family history.
As someone who mainly reads fiction, I must admit there are parts of this book that were an effort for me to read. This is especially true in the early chapters of the book, where it felt reminiscent of the Old Testament’s so and so begot so and so. However, and lucky for the reader, there are many more chapters that the author eloquently shares tales of his own life; a life that was mixed with privilege, love, and sometimes great sadness and tragedy.
I have to admit my opinion of the book shifted depending on which chapter I was reading at the time. However, as I look at the book in totality, I’ve decided to give this a 4.5-star review. The higher score rests on two reasons: One, the book is quite well written and easy to understand. Second, once you get past the more academic historical elements of the narrative, you are treated to a myriad of vivid and enjoyable narratives of Mr. Dietz’s life and the lives of his ancestors.
I would recommend this book, especially to anyone who enjoys historical non-fiction.
LGBT/BIOGRAPHIES & MEMOIRS/NON-FICTION