Lee

"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.

Part Two Of Two Parts

Douglas Southall Freeman's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Robert E. Lee captures the man as well as the general. The son of a Revolutionary War hero, Lee was a product of young America's elite. And he embodied all the conflicts of his time.

For Lee and others the Civil War was not about slavery but loyalty...to state or nation? When Lincoln offered him command of the U.S. Army, he chose instead the Confederacy, convinced that duty lay in serving his native Virginia.

This one-volume abridgement by Richard Harwell of Freeman's work contains all the power and drama of the original. The difference is that Lee is more accessible, the reader less cumbered with detail.

"Biography in the grand manner, military history par excellence." --Dumas Malone