Nolan, Lee Considered - General Robert E. Lee And Civil War History

Abstract

Robert E. Lee holds almost as much fascination among today's population as he did among the generation that fought the Civil War. Except for Thomas L Connelly's 1977 critical book, The Marble Man, Lee has virtually escaped scholarly analysis and has remained on a pedestal of public worship that borders on the dogmatic. To reconsider these gilded assumptions, Alan T. Nolan, author of several combat histories on the Civil War, examines the wide variety of existing sources on six particular themes: Lee as opponent of slavery; devoted Virginian forced into the war; brilliant military strategist; magnanimous adversary; nobleman who maintained a sense of honor even in defeat; and promoter of post-war reconciliation.