| Lee and His Army in Confederate History Contributor(s): Gallagher, Gary W. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0807857696 ISBN-13: 9780807857694 Publisher: University of North Carolina Press OUR PRICE: $32.30 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: August 2006 Annotation: A leading Civil War historian examines Robert E. Lee, his leadership, and his place in Confederate history. In eight essays, Gallagher explores Lee's operations, his role in maintaining Confederate national morale, and the quality of his generalship and considers how best to consider Lee's legacy in light of the many distortions that grew out of Lost Cause historiography. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - Civil War Period (1850-1877) - History | Military - United States - Biography & Autobiography | Military |
| Dewey: 973.730 |
| LCCN: 2001027126 |
| Lexile Measure: 1510 |
| Series: Civil War America (Paperback) |
| Physical Information: 0.76" H x 5.3" W x 8.92" (0.89 lbs) 320 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1851-1899 - Cultural Region - South - Topical - Civil War |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Was Robert E. Lee a gifted soldier whose only weaknesses lay in the depth of his loyalty to his troops, affection for his lieutenants, and dedication to the cause of the Confederacy? Or was he an ineffective leader and poor tactician whose reputation was drastically inflated by early biographers and Lost Cause apologists? These divergent characterizations represent the poles between which scholarly and popular opinion on Lee has swung over time. Now, in eight essays, Gary Gallagher offers his own refined thinking on Lee, exploring the relationship between Lee's operations and Confederate morale, the quality of his generalship, and the question of how best to handle his legacy in light of the many distortions that grew out of Lost Cause historiography. Using a host of contemporary sources, Gallagher demonstrates the remarkable faith that soldiers and citizens maintained in Lee's leadership even after his army's fortunes had begun to erode. Gallagher also engages aspects of the Lee myth with an eye toward how admirers have insisted that their hero's faults as a general represented exaggerations of his personal virtues. Finally, Gallagher considers whether it is useful--or desirable--to separate legitimate Lost Cause arguments from the transparently false ones relating to slavery and secession. Was Robert E. Lee a gifted soldier whose only weaknesses lay in the depth of his loyalty to his troops, affection for his lieutenants, and dedication to the cause of the Confederacy? Or was he an ineffective leader and poor tactician whose reputation was drastically inflated by early biographers and Lost Cause apologists? These divergent characterizations represent the poles between which scholarly and popular opinion on Lee has swung over time. In eight essays, Gary Gallagher offers his own refined thinking on Lee, exploring the relationship between Lee's operations and Confederate morale, the quality of his generalship, and the question of how best to assess his legacy in light of the many distortions that grew out of Lost Cause historiography. |
Contributor Bio(s): Gallagher, Gary W.: - Gary W. Gallagher is John L. Nau III Professor of History at the University of Virginia. He has written or edited two dozen books in the field of Civil War history, including The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864 and Stephen Dodson Ramseur: Lee's Gallant General (both from the University of North Carolina Press). |