A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters

About

Robert E. Lee was a more complex and contradictory man than his iconic image suggests. In her new biography, historian Elizabeth Brown Pryor presents dozens of previously unpublished letters to draw a new portrait of Lee's beliefs, his military ability and the times he lived in. Pryor discussed and signed "Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters," in a program sponsored by the Center for the Book. Pryor uses Lee's newly discovered family letters as departure points for a series of surprising "historical excursions," telling his life story through an innovative blend of analysis, historiography and rich period detail. She looks into Lee's troubled childhood, the hardening of his anti-abolitionist views, his decision to join the South, his celebrated but controversial battlefield performance and his final wrenching years. The author also delves into lesser-known aspects of Lee's life, such as his pioneering role in engineering science, the fluctuation in his religious beliefs and the way he shaped his own leadership style.

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Library of Congress, in Library of Congress: talks and concerts

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Rights statement at the Library of Congress, as the Library of Congress states it.

Credit

Library of Congress

Language

English

Country

United States

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