Grant and Sherman: The Friendship That Won the Civil War

This dual biography of the Union's most celebrated Civil War generals, Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, examines the partnership that effectively ended the worst bloodshed in American history. The avuncular timbre of Flood's voice fits the narrative nicely, his masculine tone sounding almost battle-worn at times. His delivery, however, feels slack and his energy is too subdued in places. Authors who narrate their own stories carry the burden of rendering fresh long-lived-in material. Often, the result is a straight read rather than vivid animation of words and characters. In Grant and Sherman , you can almost see Flood reading his sentences, reading the punctuation, pausing that full moment before quotes. The production also includes an author interview, during which Flood manages to react naturally to the artificial-sounding questions. And to his credit, he doesn't encapsulate the audiobook in his answers, but offers fresh thoughts on the topic plus insight into the genesis of his project. This is a worthy subject, but one Flood likely imparts more successfully in print. Simultaneous release with the FSG hardcover (Reviews, June 27). (Oct.)