In the spring of 1884, Ulysses S. Grant heeded the advice of Mark Twain and agreed to write his memoirs. The two men became close friends and intimate collaborators, as bankrupt Grant raced against the spread of cancer to compose an account of his life and times, while Twain struggled to complete and publish his greatest novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In this moving and meticulously researched book, Mark Perry reconstructs the months when Grant and Twain inspired and cajoled each other to create two quintessentially American masterpieces.