Customer Reviews

Jefferson Davis, American

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Cooper, who has written a number of fine books about the Civil War and the South, has produced what is certainly far and away the best available biography of Davis, an intelligent, extremely hard-working military leader and very successful Mississippi politician who will always suffer by comparison to the far greater lights of R.E. Lee and Lincoln. The author pulls no punches about Davis' weakness for certain favorite generals, his inability to exercise his critical faculties when dealing with inadequate generals such as John Pemberton of Vicksburg fame who were, he felt, strongly devoted to the cause, as well as his calamitous command decisions relating to the war in Tennessee and Georgia, involving the trio of Bragg, Joe Johnston, and Hood, but he puts a human face on the man and his family life, including, at times, difficulties with his independent-thinking wife, Varina, who was happiest in the 1850s when Davis was Secretary of War and U.S. Senator, and with his older brother, Joseph. Davis' longstanding health problems are also fairly addressed. Like his fellow Southerner Jimmie Carter, Davis was a micromanager, both in the War Department in Washington and in leading the Confederate military machine, but it is hard to see how a more inspiring, out-going leader than Davis could have made a difference in the ultimate lost cause of the Confederacy. Cooper also does an excellent job describing Davis' theories of constitutional government. Perhaps the high point of the book, however, is Oscar Wilde's visit to Davis towards the end of Davis' life; surely, Wilde was mocking when he said Davis was the person he most wanted to meet during his American lecture tour, but the two actually did meet. Given Davis' stuffy puritanism and lack of humor, and Wilde's dandyism and wit, the two were the ultimate Odd Couple. (Varina naturally loved Wilde's cosmopolitan wit.)

William J. Cooper has taken one of the most confused and often misjudged figures in American history and written a very detailed and entertaining portrayal of the first and only President of the Confederate States. Many people would be surprised to find out that in the antebellum south, Jefferson Davis was a staunch Unionist and adamantly opposed secession until he had no other choice and was literally thrown into the presidency of the Confederate States of America, whether he liked it or not.

Cooper is careful not to glorify or demean Davis in any way. The Confederate president definitely had his flaws, the most prominent of which was his undying support of slavery.
Between all the positives and negatives, Jefferson Davis was a man of his time. If you are a civil war buff or just someone who wants to read a very well written piece of work on American history, Jefferson Davis, American is highly recommended.

This book would be an easy five star choice except for the end. A little info about Mrs. Davis' life following Davis' death would have been nice. Otherwise I think Mr. Cooper has made a great contribution to the study of the Confederacy.

In our modern age Jefferson Davis' legacy has been tarnished by the rush to be politically correct. This book gets back to the real man. The man who got in boyish trouble in school and at West Point, the man who fathfully served his country, and the man who suffered through the loss of several of his children. This book shows us the Jefferson Davis who was the product of his times. This book also shows us a man who was deeply troubled by the storm he saw coming but who deep in his heart and soul believed secession was a legal right. No matter how his beliefs fair by today's standards he stood for his beliefs and gave up all that he had for the "cause".

Cooper has brought to us a true snapshot of Jefferson Davis and for that we owe him a great debt. This book should be required reading in all college courses dealing with the civil war or antibellum south.

The book is well researched and well written, and the style is highly readable. Having said that, it's not an engrossing book that's hard to put down either. Nonetheless, I plodded through it over a month and I am glad I did. Jefferson Davis remains an enigma to most Americans; how could someone who had studied at West Point, served in our military, been a Senator and a Cabinet officer lead a rebellion against the very nation he professed to love for so long? The book reveals the answer and makes a convincing argument that Davis neither hated The United States of America nor loved the vile institution of slavery. In his view, and perhaps in the view of many if not most of his Southern contemporaries, the largest viable sovereign political entity was the State, not the Union. Put simply, Davis was a Mississippian, and as long as Mississippi chose to associate itself with the other states of the Union, so too would Davis. But he believed very deeply in the Jeffersonian principle of decentralized government, and Federal mandates were an affront to his interpretation of the Constitution. The book makes his case admirably and tells the story of that period from an interesting perspective. It will not disappoint the reader whose views may be different than those of Mr. Davis.

Mr. Cooper has appeared to have written the definitive biography of the somewhat reluctant leader of the Confederacy. I purchased this book with the realization I knew relatively nothing about Mr Davis' career. It is certainly an eye-opening tale. I applaud the fact that Mr Cooper offers a more sympathetic view to this grossly misunderstood man. A certifiable hero of the Mexican War,and innovative Secretary of War, Mr. Davis indeed had to conquer his personal demons as well as the "enemies at the gate", in the guise of other Southern malcontents like Louis Wigfall of Texas, and Robert Toombs of Georgia. Mr. Cooper accurately portrays Jefferson Davis as, in essence, a man who was fighting a losing battle from the beginning.

With so many reviews already, it is hard to add much so I'll keep this short and sweet. This is a great book and the seminal biography of Davis. Historians will be hard pressed to top Cooper's work. The book on the years preceding the Civil War were, at times, not overly inspiring, but the chapters on the war years and Davis' post-war life more than made up for it. Page turning reading and solid research to boot. This book is the best kind of history--readable, entertaining, yet solidly researched and educational as well. Having read other books that discussed Davis in varying capacities, I feel like I have a much better grasp on Davis the man than ever before. Highly recommended for any and all history buffs.

I read this because I've read other works by Cooper and think he's a first-rate historian. I also didn't know much about Jefferson Davis, except the things that get repeated in history books. This is a well-researched and well-written biography, and I learned a lot. Like one of the other reviewers, I wish there'd been an epilogue; Davis dies, the end. When I finished the book I thought of a line from a poem by Robert Lowell about another famous figure: "He was one of us only, pure prose." I don't know if that's because of the way Cooper presented Davis, or because Davis was, when it all comes down to it, "one of us"--no great hero, but someone who did the best he could.

The person who struck me as the most interesting was Davis's wife Varina, who captivated men as different as John C. Calhoun and Oscar Wilde and was an intelligent, educated, and strong woman. I hope somebody's working on a new biography of Varina!

For me this book dispelled a great deal of the myth and unknown surrounding the life and times of Jefferson Davis.

A great deal of the books focus stretches across the life of Davis prior to 1861 and his life after 1865. His life and times are fascinatingly recreated by Mr. Cooper in a well written and researched book.

This is a must for any Civil War buff and any reader of this period of American history.

At first I was curious what happened to Jefferson Davis after the war then i was curious why he was named president of the confederacy and then I wondered what happened to him during the Civil War. Hence I picked up this book and had my questions answered. I'll leave the answers to the reader. I found the book generally informative and well written. I always have to fight my way through early life in a bio, but Davis' life was interesting and well described by Cooper. The sections describing Davis public life before and during the war were well written and quite interesting. Cooper does a good job of explaining the southern mind in the 1850's. I have a couple of quibbles with the book. First Cooper can be quite repetitive giving the same fact or story over again, sometimes within 3 pages of the first statement. Second there are some contradictions. For example Cooper talks about what good friends Davis and Seward were til the end. But then he tells about Seward's desire to jail, try and maybe hang Davis. He mentions how bitter they were too. How does he reconcile these facts? Overall though, a good pick up for somebody curious about Jefferson Davis and the south, especially before the Civil War.

Dr. Cooper has made every effort to present the life of Jefferson Davis without bias. His research is thorough and detailed. He does not glorify Davis nor does he vilify him. This very readable book provides valuable insight into the times in which Davis lived and the part he played in the history of our country. The work is free of revisionism and correctness. I learned much from this extraordinary effort and was left to form my own opinions and conclusions. Thank you sincerely Dr. Cooper