Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged, and Profited from Slavery by Anne Farrow  (26)
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Jefferson Davis: The Essential Writings (Modern Library Classics) by Jefferson Davis  (4)
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
As her title suggests, Allen, an independent scholar, has written a sentimental account of the life of the president of the Confederate States of America. Davis's wife, Varina, along with their children, play a central role in a narrative that draws heavily on Davis's own correspondence. Allen depicts Davis as a caring husband, a loving father, a virtuous public servant and the very embodiment of Southern chivalry. This is anything but a critical biography; what Allen strives earnestly to convey is the strict moral code that Davis lived by, a code emphasizing honesty, self-sacrifice, loyalty to family, physical and moral courage and respect for Southern tradition. Davis was, foremost, a soldier; ironically, the tactical and technical innovations that he introduced at the antebellum War Department greatly enhanced the preparedness of the Union army, thus contributing to the defeat of his beloved Confederacy. As a senator from Mississippi, Davis was at the boiling center of the slavery debate, arguing that servitude civilized and Christianized African-Americans and was sanctioned by both the Bible and the Constitution. Allen doesn't contribute much to our larger understanding of the period; the political "crisis" of the 1850s, with Davis heading the Southern faction in the Senate, has been better described elsewhere, as has the complex military history of the Civil War. What Allen contributes is an emphasis on Davis the family man and Davis the martyred symbol of a vanquished but proud and unrepentant South. While she largely succeeds in portraying Davis as a noble individual and as the personification of Southern "glory," she's unable to solve the ultimate conundrum: how a supposedly great man could devote his public life to defending slavery. 72 illus. not seen by PW. (Dec.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The subject of both laudatory and critical studies since the time of the American Civil War, Jefferson Davis remains a controversial and enigmatic figure. In this truly comprehensive volume, Allen, an independent Southern scholar, provides an extensive portrait of Jefferson's personal and public life. Utilizing a wide variety of sources but heavily dependent on the memoirs of Davis and his wife, Varina, the biography is quite sympathetic to Davis. Writings dealing with Davis are so common that smaller collections owning Clement Eaton's classic Jefferson Davis (1977. o.p.) and newer biographies such as William C. Davis's Jefferson Davis: The Man and His Hour (LJ 11/15/91) may wish to pass on this one. Given Davis's popularity and the book's extensive coverage, however, this book could be recommended for larger public libraries.
-Theresa McDevitt, Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
As her title suggests, Allen, an independent scholar, has written a sentimental account of the life of the president of the Confederate States of America. Davis's wife, Varina, along with their children, play a central role in a narrative that draws heavily on Davis's own correspondence. Allen depicts Davis as a caring husband, a loving father, a virtuous public servant and the very embodiment of Southern chivalry. This is anything but a critical biography; what Allen strives earnestly to convey is the strict moral code that Davis lived by, a code emphasizing honesty, self-sacrifice, loyalty to family, physical and moral courage and respect for Southern tradition. Davis was, foremost, a soldier; ironically, the tactical and technical innovations that he introduced at the antebellum War Department greatly enhanced the preparedness of the Union army, thus contributing to the defeat of his beloved Confederacy. As a senator from Mississippi, Davis was at the boiling center of the slavery debate, arguing that servitude civilized and Christianized African-Americans and was sanctioned by both the Bible and the Constitution. Allen doesn't contribute much to our larger understanding of the period; the political "crisis" of the 1850s, with Davis heading the Southern faction in the Senate, has been better described elsewhere, as has the complex military history of the Civil War. What Allen contributes is an emphasis on Davis the family man and Davis the martyred symbol of a vanquished but proud and unrepentant South. While she largely succeeds in portraying Davis as a noble individual and as the personification of Southern "glory," she's unable to solve the ultimate conundrum: how a supposedly great man could devote his public life to defending slavery. 72 illus. not seen by PW. (Dec.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The subject of both laudatory and critical studies since the time of the American Civil War, Jefferson Davis remains a controversial and enigmatic figure. In this truly comprehensive volume, Allen, an independent Southern scholar, provides an extensive portrait of Jefferson's personal and public life. Utilizing a wide variety of sources but heavily dependent on the memoirs of Davis and his wife, Varina, the biography is quite sympathetic to Davis. Writings dealing with Davis are so common that smaller collections owning Clement Eaton's classic Jefferson Davis (1977. o.p.) and newer biographies such as William C. Davis's Jefferson Davis: The Man and His Hour (LJ 11/15/91) may wish to pass on this one. Given Davis's popularity and the book's extensive coverage, however, this book could be recommended for larger public libraries.
-Theresa McDevitt, Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
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