Bedford Public Library

Robert E. Lee, a life, Allen C. Guelzo

Label
Robert E. Lee, a life, Allen C. Guelzo
Language
eng
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 443-563) and index
resource.biographical
individual biography
Illustrations
platesmapsportraitsillustrations
Index
index present
Literary Form
non fiction
Main title
Robert E. Lee
Nature of contents
bibliography
Responsibility statement
Allen C. Guelzo
Sub title
a life
Summary
Robert E. Lee is one of the most confounding figures in American history. Lee betrayed his nation in order to defend his home state and uphold the slave system he claimed to oppose. He was a traitor to the country he swore to serve as an Army officer, and yet he was admired even by his enemies for his composure and leadership. He considered slavery immoral, but benefited from inherited slaves and fought to defend the institution. And behind his genteel demeanor and perfectionism lurked the insecurities of a man haunted by the legacy of a father who stained the family name by declaring bankruptcy and who disappeared when Robert was just six years old. In Robert E. Lee, the award-winning historian Allen Guelzo has written the definitive biography of the general, following him from his refined upbringing in Virginia high society, to his long career in the U.S. Army, his agonized decision to side with Virginia when it seceded from the Union, and his leadership during the Civil War. Above all, Guelzo captures Robert E. Lee in all his complexity--his hypocrisy and courage, his outward calm and inner turmoil, his honor and his disloyalty., --Amazon
Table Of Contents
Prologue: The Mystery of Robert E. Lee -- The Garden Spot of Virginia -- The Making of an Engineer -- Marriage and the Third System -- Mission to the Mississippi -- Ruling the Aztec Sky -- To Serve as a Model for the Mighty World -- The Unpleasant Legacy -- I Will Cling to It to the Last -- The Decisions -- This is Not the Way to Accomplish Our Independence -- To Dash Against Mine Enemy and to Win -- The Savior of Richmond -- It is Well This is So Terrible! -- In This Heathen War the Fire of God Fills Him -- I Consider My Presence Here Always Necessary -- We Must Destroy This Army of Grant's -- Just as I Have Expected It Would End from the First -- An Indictment for Treason -- Every Student Must Be a Gentleman -- From the Great Deep to the Great Deep He Goes -- Epilogue: The Crime and the Glory of Robert E. Lee
Classification