Robert E. Lee: A Biography [Hardcover]

Emory M. Thomas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1995

The life of Robert E. Lee is a story of triumph - triumph in clearing his family name, triumph in marrying properly, triumph over the mighty Mississippi in his work as an engineer, and triumph over all other military men to become the towering figure who commanded the Confederate army in the American Civil War. But late in life Lee wrote what may be his most revealing phrase. He confessed that he "was always wanting something." This from perhaps the South's greatest hero, the man whose demeanor and presence in war were sufficient to inspire thousands to march to near-certain death. In this probing and personal biography, Emory Thomas's thorough examination of Lee's life reveals more than the man did himself, allowing us to find meaning in Lee's successes and failures. From his struggles as a youth with his father's humiliation, to his frustrating marriage into a proper and prominent family, and his lively relationships with young female friends and relatives, Lee - the uncertain scion, skilled engineer, consummate warrior, and college president - was actually an enigmatic person of latent passions. He lived in limbo between the self-control to which he aspired and the freedom for which he longed.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Thomas, a distinguished historian of the Civil War (The Confederacy as a Revolutionary Experience), has written a major analytical biography of Robert E. Lee. Synthesizing printed and manuscript sources, he presents Lee as neither the icon of Douglas Southall Freeman nor the flawed figure presented by Thomas Connolly. Lee emerges instead as a man of paradoxes, whose frustrations and tribulations were the basis for his heroism. Lee's work was his play, according to the author, and throughout his life he made the best of his lot. Believing that evil springs from selfishness, he found release in service to his family, his country and, not least, to the men he led. One of history's great captains and most beloved generals, he refused to take himself too seriously. This comic vision of life ultimately shaped an individual who was both more and less than his legend. Highly recommended. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Gen. Robert Edward Lee was a leader who inspired great devotion among the men who followed him, and he continues to inspire great interest to this day. Thomas (The Confederate Nation, 1861-1865, 1979) presents a fresh look at the general. By examining Lee as a person, the biographer renders him intensely human. Lee is shown to be the son of an unstable father, a frustrated husband, and a devoted parent. He encountered many hardships but became great not "because of what he did ...but because of the way he lived." Given the prodigious number of Lee biographies available, this may be an optional purchase, but it is nonetheless a valuable addition to the studies of the general.?Robert A. Curtis, Taylor Memorial P.L., Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; 1ST edition (July 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393037304
• ISBN-13: 978-0393037302
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( L ) > Lee, Robert E.
  • #67 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > United States > Civil War > Military Leaders

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well written but overly speculative, November 26, 1998

By 

Anson Cassel Mills (Lake Santeetlah, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Robert E. Lee: A Biography (Hardcover)

Because I spent three summers at Arlington House as a National Park Service ranger, I've read a number of books about Robert E. Lee and his family, including Freeman's four volumes twice. Thomas's biography is well written and was especially helpful to me in sorting out aspects of Lee's pre-Civil War career that hadn't made sense to me before. Thomas' treatment of Lee's feckless father, Light Horse Harry, hits close to the mark, and I'm ready to accept Mrs. Lee as more small-minded than I would have credited ten years ago. Thomas is perhaps a bit tough on Lee's father-in-law, G.W.P. Custis, and I would have liked the author to spend more time with Lee's mother-in-law, Mary Fitzhugh Custis, whose influence on Lee and his family was enormous.

Thomas' attempt to read double-entendres into Lee's early pleasantries with younger women is at best strained and at worse anachronistic. Thomas also has an imperfect understanding of evangelical religion in the nineteenth century and seems to think if the low-church Episcopalian Lee didn't discuss a conversion experience, then his confirmation in the church at age 46 was little more than a formality "to support his daughters' conviction" and "to honor his mother-in-law's piety." Thomas' attempt to substitute "God" for "true gentleman" in one of Lee's ruminations about ethics and read into it an "intriguing theological insight" is downright silly. (p. 397)

One serious mistake needs to be corrected: the sensational charge that in June 1862, Lee was so preoccupied with his duties that he forgot his grandson had died and wrote to the boy's mother asking her to "kiss [him] for me." Thomas might have reflected on the improbability of this story and double-checked the primary sources. Actually, the boy died in July. It is a notorious example of information both true and sensational-but with the sensational untrue and the true not sensational.

Lee was not, of course, the myth that he started to become by the end of the Civil War, and Thomas is correct to emphasize Lee as a tragic hero. Nevertheless, Freeman's Lee, the uncomplicated man of duty is closer to the truth than Thomas' paradox striving "to be independent, to be free."

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lee the man....maybe, August 31, 2003

By 

Jackie Tortorella - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Robert E. Lee: A Biography (Hardcover)

Thomas has written a thorough, well-researched albeit opinioned biography of Robert E. Lee that focuses more on the man than the battles. I gave it 4 stars because the entire book was engrossing--never a bit dull. He claims to be middle-of-the-road between the extreme views of Lee. I think he leans quite a bit toward the detractors. Much of his portrayal of the inner man is speculative, in my opinion. While he may well have gotten most of it right, I don't think Thomas has Lee "all figured out" as much as he seems to think he does. His is another opinion on the field of many such. That said, Thomas has delved into the details with extreme scrutiny. You can see that he really tries to be fair. I think maybe most of my disappointment is that I had hoped this book would make Lee less a mystery, and it did not, not for me anyway.

I do highly recommend this book, not only because it has excellent scholarship, but also because it's a pleasure to read--a most difficult combination!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An objective but sympathetic look at Lee., March 11, 2004

By 

lordhoot "lordhoot" (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Robert E. Lee: A Biography (Hardcover)

I thought this was a personal biography of Robert E. Lee. I think some of the previous reviewers were looking for a military biography. But book talks more about Lee as a man instead of Lee as a military commander. On that, I found the book to be rather refreshing in outlook as the author intregated Lee's personal life into his military performances.

The author appears to be pretty sympathetic toward Lee, as a man with many problems at home before, during and after the Civil War. He writes with clarity and with empathy which helped the reader understand what sort of a man Lee was. While an analyical look, I found the book readable, enlightening and well presented.