Robert E. Lee: Icon for a Nation (Great Commanders S.) [Hardcover]

Brian Holden Reid (Author)

Book Description

Series: Great Commanders S. | Publication Date: February 2005

General Robert E Lee, handsome, immaculately attired and dignified, quickly emerged as one of the great heroes of the American Civil War. This is rather surprising for, as Brian Holden Reid points out in his lucid new study, Lee was the most successful general to command troops against the armies of the United States before General Vo Nguyen Giap in Vietnam. Lee's reputation as a peerless commander was greatly embroidered by writers after 1865 who were dedicated to the Lost Cause and presented a sentimental picture of the Old South with Lee as its finest product. His character and achievements in the Civil War were presented as a validation of the Confederate cause. It is important for historians to come to terms with this legacy. Professor Holden Reid briskly surveys the forms that the Lee legend took after his death in 1870 and discusses the reasons behind the way it crystallised as it did. As a non-American he brings a fresh, detached eye to this process. Holden Reid argues that Lee's qualities as a general do not require any exaggeration or embellishment. Lee's short period of field command, just under three years, was marked by imagination, decisiveness, stamina, and a determination to win the Civil War rather than just avoid losing it. Holden Reid defends Lee stoutly against later critics who have argued that his offensive strategy was self-defeating. He believes that it was the only realistic course offered to the Confederacy to win its independence. He acknowledges though that all great commanders have their faults. Lee exhibited occasional over-confidence, under-estimated his enemy, and failed to develop his staff in any modern sense. The result is an authoritative and balanced assessment of a great American commander.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Reid tells Lee's story fairly and sympathetically. This is a well-judged and useful book.' -- Paul Johnson LITERARY REVIEW 'Holden Reid has produced a fine and readable study in the best traditions of British writing on the American Civil War.' TLS 'this is a very balanced and honest account... arguably the best and most accessible single volume biography of Robert E. Lee yet produced. Highly recommended.' BRITISH ARMY REVIEW

About the Author

Brian Holden Reid is Professor of American History and Military Institutions and Head of the Department of War Studies at King's College, London. Since 1993 he has been a member of the Council of the Society for Army Historical Research and from 1998-2004 served as Chairman. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Royal Geographical Society and the Royal United Services Institute.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: George Weidenfeld & Nicholson; 1st Eng edition (February 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 029784699X
• ISBN-13: 978-0297846994
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,279,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Study of Robert E. Lee, April 13, 2006

By 

Robin Friedman (Washington, D.C. United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Robert E. Lee: Icon for a Nation (Great Commanders S.) (Hardcover)

It is easy to overlook the many contributions that non-Americans have made to the study of the American Civil War. Brian Holden Reid's outstanding study "Robert E. Lee: Icon for a Nation" brings an informed, fresh and balanced perspective to bear upon the Confederacy's greatest general. Reid is Professor of American History and Military Institutions and Head of the Department of War Studies at Kings College, London. He has taught military strategy and tactics and written extensively about America's Civil War.

Any new study of Lee must work on two levels. First, of course, it must examine Lee himself, his life, his career, and his generalship. Second, any study must come to terms with the extensive writing and radically shifting perspectives about Lee over the years. Following the Civil War, Lee quickly became an icon to Southern partisans in the "Lost Cause" tradition. His character and success, for a time, against long military odds soon elevated Lee into a figure respected and revered by many Americans, north and south. Then, in mid-20th Century a reaction set in against Lee, questioning some of the mythology that had grown around him and challenging his agressive conduct of the War, his focus on the Eastern theater, his alleged lack of broad strategic vision, and the high casualty rate to which he subjected the Army of Northern Virginia, among other things. The reasons underlying the reassessment were complex. They included correcting an overly iconic and uncritical account, the changing perspective with which Americans viewed the Civil War, and a general and, I think, unhappy tendency to debunk and to criticise important historical figures.

In clear, elegant prose, Reid examines Lee and Lee historiography. Although Reid avoids hero worship, he clearly admires greatly Robert E. Lee as a person and as a general. He finds that much, but not all, of the traditional picture of Lee has merit: he was an imaginative, agressive, savvy, and gifted commander who, importantly, inspired the love and the trust of his men. He fought and won many battles against long odds and prolonged the life of the Confederacy, giving it its best chance to achieve independence. Reid is far from uncritical as he points to flaws in, among other things, the command structure of Lee's army, the commander's frequent over-confidence, his tendency to overdelegate to subordinates, his conduct of the Battle of Gettysburg, and the failure to make the most of his opportunites in battles such as Seven Days, Second Manassas, Fredricksburg, and Chancellorsville. For all these faults, Lee emerges in this study as a remarkable, charismatic commander whom Reid believes is properly regarded as one of the greatest in history.

The book opens with a chapter on Lee the icon with a summary of how historians of the "Lost Cause" school have viewed him, under the influence of the writings of Confederate General Jubal Early. The book then discusses Lee's pre-Civil War career, focusing on his service in Mexico, but gathers force in its consideration of Lee's three-year career as the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. Lee's assumption of command in June, 1862, and the battles for which he is famous -- Seven Days, Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness Campaign, Petersburg, and Appatomatox, are discussed clearly and with sufficient detail. Reid keeps his and the reader's focus on the main themes of his study: showing Lee's greatness as a leader but his shortcomings as well.

In common with most books about Lee, his military exploits are discussed in detail but we see little of his inmost thoughts and feelings. Lee was a highly reserved individual. I would have also liked more emphasis on Lee's pre-Civil War career and, particularly, a fuller discussion of Lee's life and career as President of Washington University following the Civil War. The book includes some basic maps of the key theatres of Lee's operations -- placed at the beginning of the book to avoid cluttering the text -- a good, basic bibliography, and no footnotes.

Reid has written an excellent study of a great commander which argues convincingly that Lee deserves most of the esteem that he has traditionally received. This book will appeal to serious students of the Civil War.

Robin Friedman

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mostly a critique of Lee's generalling, October 15, 2009

By 

lector avidus (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Robert E. Lee: Icon for a Nation (Paperback)

Brian Reid, a British military historian who teaches such things to military officers aspiring to serve Her Majesty's Armed Forces on their General Staffs has written this book about Robert E. Lee.

To describe this tome as a biography would be inaccurate, for all intents and purposes it is a deft and tightly written critique of his skill as a general; after ploughing through its pages, I can almost hear Reid critiquing officers and their decisions on exercises. Being British, Reid brings the advantage of being able to dispassionately write about a man who, for Americans, became a sacred cow. And, all the same, Reid finds an enormous amount to commend.

As a crisp critique of Lee's generaling on the tactical and strategic levels, this book is a success. However, it comes apart when Reid (very briefly) addresses the moral level. Wars are fought on the tactical and strategic levels, but often won or lost on the moral level; if you can't persuade your people to fight for you, or your stronger enemy not to fight you, you have lost. Reid pithily and stunningly dismisses all claims that the war Lee fought was not about slavery; and yet Abraham Lincoln went into the war emphatically affirming that it was not about slavery, only to recant, and pull the rug out from under Lee with the Emancipation Proclamation when his prospects were quite shaky.

Could it be that Lee was hoping that the European powers, united with the South by an aristocratic culture, would intervene, a hope dashed by the Emancipation Proclamation? Why else would Lee, according to Reid one of the greatest generals of all times, have let himself into a war that he in the end couldn't win?

This book is a good critique of Lee's military strategy and tactics, and virtually exclusively so.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Icon...Lee, September 2, 2008

By 

R. M. Buhrman (Richmond, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Robert E. Lee: Icon for a Nation (Paperback)

the author is a good writer, entertaining with an obvious wealth of knowledge of the subject. I couldn't imagine how the author could get a picture of Lee into that small book when it took Freeman four volumes, but it was well worth the purchase, I would highly recommend it.