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Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters | 
 enlarge | Author: Elizabeth Brown Pryor
Publisher: Viking Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $6.21
You Save: $23.74 (79%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  24 reviews
Sales Rank: 52162
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 688
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.4
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 6.1 x 2.1
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.73092
ASIN: B001CJS6G8
Publication Date: May 3, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
For the 200th anniversary of Robert E. Lees birth, a new portrait drawing on previously unpublished correspondence
Robert E. Lees war correspondence is well known, and here and there personal letters have found their way into print, but the great majority of his most intimate messages have never been made public. These letters reveal a far more complex and contradictory man than the one who comes most readily to the imagination, for it is with his family and his friends that Lee is at his most candid, most engaging, and most vulnerable. Over the past several years historian Elizabeth Brown Pryor has uncovered a rich trove of unpublished Lee materials that had been held in both private and public collections. Her new book, a unique blend of analysis, narrative, and historiography, presents dozens of these letters in their entirety, most by Lee but a few by family members. Each letter becomes a departure point for an essay that shows what the letter uniquely reveals about Lees time or character. The material covers all aspects of Lees lifehis early years, West Point, his work as an engineer, his relationships with his children and his slaves, his decision to join the South, his thoughts on military strategy, and his disappointments after defeat in the Civil War. The result is perhaps the most intimate picture to date of Lee, one that deftly analyzes the meaning of his actions within the context of his personality, his relationships, and the social tenor of his times.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 19 more reviews...
 Very Sloppy Research October 30, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As a historian I have to say that this work is appalling. This work reads more like a partisan hit piece than a true historical investigation. The very best that can be said for this work is that it's sloppy. If the misrepresentation of facts in the book were intentional, then it's unforgivable.
Since the question of the Custis slaves has been commented on so frequently, I'll use it as the main example of the sort of problems this book has. This work makes it sound like Lee inherited a number of slaves from George Washington Parke Custis that he was ordered to free within 5 years. This is NOT the case.
Lee did not inherit any slaves. If anyone could be bothered to read the Custis will, it states, "And upon the legacies to my four granddaughters being paid, and my estates that are required to pay the said legacies, being clear of debts, then I give freedom to my slaves, the said slaves to be emancipated by my executors in such manner as to my executors may seem most expedient and proper, the said emancipation to be accomplished in not exceeding five years from the time of my decease."
What this means is that the slaves were not bequeathed to anyone in the will. However, the will REQUIRED the executers of the will, including Robert E. Lee, to use the slaves for up to 5 years to pay the "legacies" of George Washington Parke Custis's granddaughters. Not only did Lee not own the slaves, but he did not have the power to free them until the final will of Custis was accomplished.
Not only does the work fail to add mush substantially to the understanding of Robert E. Lee, the work is flawed to an extreme degree. I would advise any wishing to learn more on Lee to avoid this book.
This book is a waste of paper. September 19, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Despite the author's comments to the contrary, this book is clearly biased attempt at using recently discovered coorespondance from and about the subject, in an attempt to tarnish the image of a man of true integrity and statesmanship.
The actual quotations that the author uses are very sparce, and often used out of context, in thinly veiled attempts to show the subject's supposed failings. Robert E. Lee was flawed, as every human being is, but many, many well-qualified researchers have shown that he was revered, loved, and admired by his contemporaries for his impecable sense of honor and integrity.
The author has chosen to allow the reader to view very little of the actual information directly, choosing instead to present it by his own description, or in poorly chosen, heavily edited snippets, obviously intended to support the author's pre-concieved judgement about the subject.
What a shame that this author was given the rare opportunity to view newly discovered historical information, and has used it so carelessly.
Don't waste your money on this large, expensive, and clumsy editorialization in the guise of research.
No "reading" of Lee's generalship, that's for sure August 14, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was anxious to learn more about Ms Pryor's "reading" of Lee the general through whatever letters she had uncovered. Oooppps. No such thing.
Pryor's "reading" of the Lee the general is so second-handish that it reminded me of another infamous treatment of Lee's generalship. So similar were the concepts and critiques of Lee the general that looking at her footnotes, I discovered that her "reading" of Lee during the war comes from her reading of select, secondary sources that support her agenda and have been thoroughly discredited as inaccurately portraiting Lee's generalship.
For me, this spoiled the book. I have gifted my copy to charity.
A mean-spirited attack on a great human being July 31, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
By trying to examine R. E. Lee by the world of the 21st century, Ms. Pryor has put together some personal letters from or to Lee and made serious mistakes of judgement. While there is perhaps a chance to sell a few books by attempting to show unexpected flaws in the life of someone judged by almost all serious historians or biographers to have been very worthy, Ms. Pryor has chosen a belittle one of the great men of our American experience. I am very sorry I bought this book and feel that it is an egregious slur on the memory of a much better person than Ms. Pryor.
psychic or author July 17, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Fun to read a pissant writing about a man with such integrity. Taking some letters, scrutinize them carefully, add preconceived ideas and a few tea leaves, and viola, pissant can give a portrait of Robert E. Lee.
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