To most , Robert E. Lee is a beloved tragic figure of a bygone war—remembered by history as stoic and brave but without a true emotional life. Recently, however, historian Elizabeth Brown Pryor uncovered important documents that provide a stunning personal account of Lee’s military ability, his beliefs, and his time. Using dozens of previously unpublished letters as departure points, Pryor sheds new light on every aspect of this complex and contradictory general and questions our own understanding of loyalty and patriotism. This tantalizing glimpse of a legendary hero’s guarded soul will astonish and fascinate not only Civil War buffs, but anyone interested in this nation’s history.
"Lee provides an opportunity for a new generation to better understand not only the Civil War era but also the art of biography."
—Fort Worth Star-Telegram
"The most prominent of…Civil War offerings. Considered the definitive work on the commander of the Confederate forces."
—The Pittsburgh Press
When Douglas Southall Freeman's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography R. E. Lee appeared in 1935, the critics raved. Stephen Vincent Benét summed it all up by saying, "there is a monument—and a fine one—to Robert E. Lee at Lexington. But this one, I think, will last as long." This reissue of Richard Harwell's 1961 abridgment chronicles all the major apsects and highlights of Lee's military career, and includes a new introduction by James M. McPherson, author of the bestselling Battle Cry of Freedom. Distinguised, scholarly, yet eminently readeable, Lee will fascinate not only Civil War enthusiasts but also everyone interested in this crucial period of American history.
"The best and most balanced of the Lee biographies."—New York Review of Books
The life of Robert E. Lee is a story not of defeat but of triumph—triumph in clearing his family name, triumph in marrying properly, triumph over the mighty Mississippi in his work as an engineer, and triumph over all other military men to become the towering figure who commanded the Confederate army in the American Civil War. But late in life Lee confessed that he "was always wanting something."
In this probing and personal biography, Emory Thomas reveals more than the man himself did. Robert E. Lee has been, and continues to be, a symbol and hero in the American story. But in life, Thomas writes, Lee was both more and less than his legend. Here is the man behind the legend.
Thomas's thorough examination of Lee's life reveals more than the man did himself, allowing readers to find meaning in Lee's failures and successes. Lee was actually a man of little expressed passion for whom war was a release. His sense of duty and ability to push to a conclusion helped him rise to power and survive his inevitable defeat.
After his surrender at Appomattox, Robert E. Lee lived only another five years - the forgotten chapter of an extraordinary life. These were his finest hours, when he did more than any other American to heal the wounds between North and South. Flood draws on new research to create an intensely human and a "wonderful, tragic, and powerful . . . story for which we have been waiting over a century" (Theodore H. White).
Draws upon research to create an intensely human, dramatic story. In five years Lee did much to heal the wounds between North and South.
A biography focusing on the childhood of the man who turned down the field command of the United States Army and became the leader of the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
Robert E. Lee in Texas introduces a little known phase of the great General’s career—his service in Texas during the four turbulent years just preceding the Civil War. In this account Carl Coke Rister takes us with Lee to his lonely posts on the border, and we share with him the hazardous and often fruitless chases after bands of American Indians and Mexicans. We see through the eyes of the “Academy man” the raw life on the frontier and hear through his own words his impressions of the country and people.
Next book list: Books on Life of Famous playwright and novelist Oscar Wilde >>