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Rating: 
Summary: A Hard Look at Lee and The Lost Vause Syndrome
Review: This book is not just a revisionist look at Robet E. Lee but also an objective evaluation of the Southern Lost Cause Syndrome that utilzed Lee as their flagship for a just cause. Thomas Connelly is a great writer of the western theater notably the history of the Army of the Tennessee and of the western Confederate cabal that had conflicts with Jefferson Davis. Connelly offers what southerners and partiucularly Virginians may find as a harsh evaluation of Lee during the war. This book also includes some psycho-analysis that offers some reasoning for Lee's very formal demeanor which is in far contrast's to Joe Johnston whose troops would pat him on the head on occasion but not dare approach Lee in such an informal manner. In my opinion the book demonstrates that Lee was simply not infallible like amy man who has overall responsibility, he must accept some of the blame for failure. There is also the question of whether Lee was too aggressive with limited manpower (Gary Gallagher has referred to this as crucial, that the Confederacy was in serious need of military victories for morale). The Lost Cause contingent made up of Jubal Early and company always gave Lee total credit for victory but not in defeat, Early & company always made someone other than Lee a scapegoat in their version of history. Gettysburg serves as the grand indictment of this philosophy where Longstreet becomes the total goat at Gettysburg in the 1870's while one of his accusers, Early, covers his own lackluster performance by publicly hanging Longstreet. Early raps himself with the cloak of Robert E. Lee to deflect criticism of his own actions and post war exile. To my mind, Connaly expolores better than anyone else the self serving relationship of Jubal Early to the Lost Cause syndrome in Early's attempt to rewite history. Connelly brings out that Jackson was the south's great hero until Lee's death and the emergence of Lee's rise among southern writers. He also argues that Lee lacked a national picture of how to best serve the Confederacy by his opposing transferring troops west to bolster those failing armies with limited resources. He argues that Virginia was Lee's first and main focus. Highly reccommend this book, whether you agree or not, Connelly makes you look at the facts presented and while not meaning to destroy Lee's image of a competent and charismatic general, it tends to show him as human and mortal who like everyone made some mistakes. We all have to look at historians presentations carefully, even Douglas Freeman in Lee's Lieutanents slightly diminishes Jackson's role and he makes Longstreet shorter, fatter and a plotter of self grandization. This is an intellectually challenging book best appreciated by those that have an open mind. This book most likely helped foster Alan Nolan's "Lee Considered."
Rating: 
Summary: Beyond the Facade
Review: This book might be approached as an examination of how a well-known personality is transformed for a human being into a cultural icon. Sequentially and chronologically Connelly takes his readers through that process using Robert E. Lee as the item of investigation. Along the way, Connelly makes commentary on the differences between the cultures of the north and south and how Lee's legion spread because of those cultural differences. That context has been well-established by numerous writers. Connelly simply uses it for a closer examination of Lee. For example, on page 102 he quotes another historian, Bradley T. Johnson in writing "Environmental factors had forced North and South to develop contrasting socieites. The North, 'invigorated' by constant struggle with nature, became materialistic, grasping for wealth and power. The South's 'more generous climate' had wrought a life-style based upon non-materialism and adherence to a finer code of 'veracity and honor in man, chastity and fidelity in women'"
This book helps a person to understand how history evolves in the process of retelling over a period of several generations.
Rating: 
Summary: From marble to dust?
Review: This book should probably only get one star but I gave it two because it does give the reader a good look at Lee the man instead of the saint. The problem is that it goes too far. It is hard but possible to make a much loved figure human without going to the extreme Connelly goes to. A happy medium would have been much more likely to bring us the real Lee. Sadly instead of going after the real General Lee Connelly goes on the attack and gives us a picture of a sad person who does not reflect the real man. Was Robert E. Lee the pure figure he is often pictured as? Not likely. On the other hand he also was not the pathetic figure given us by Connelly. In an attempt to destroy the myths of the past Connelly creates a set of his own half truths and myths. Shame on him!
Rating:
Summary: the marble man knocked off his pedestal
Review: thomas connelly's book on r.e. lee is quite simply one of the best studies of the man that i have ever read. in stark contrast to southern lost cause scholars such as douglas s. freeman, bob krick and clifford dowdy, connelly has presented an objective approach to the historical status of r.e. lee. this book is not, strictly speaking, a biography, but rather a comprehensive study of how r.e. lee fits neatly into the mythos of the "lost cause" fashioned by southern propagandists in the decades follwing the civil war. in order to glorify the dubious confederate cause, it became necessary to virtually deify r.e. lee, the south's most famous general. connelly shows how not only southerners, but northerners as well, bought into the elevation of r.e. lee to superhuman dimensions. hence the title of the book. the mortal man, with all his fallibilities, became obscured by the legend.connelly has succeeded in stripping away the lost cause veil covering lee's humanity in a most dignified fashion. there are no polemics here. the biographical data on lee is revealing. the fact that he was a "party animal" as a young man, and perhaps a repressed one in middle age, came as a revelation. lee's icy sense of duty had complex psychologocal dimensions that freeman and dowdy did not fully explore. connelly's scholarship does just that. what emerges from connelly's work is a complex, brilliant and flawed human being, and not the "god" of the south that is still worshipped today. all students of the civil war and military history should read this book, regardless of their respective views on lee. the other icon of the confederacy, stonewall jackson, could use a connelly-like approach to his life and place in american history, especially in the wake of james robertson's slobbering salute to this other "christian warrior." are you listening, alan nolan?
Rating:
Summary: The Marble Man deconstucted.
Review: whether Connelly admits it or not he too is enamoured by the Lee mystique but than again which Lee historian wouldn`t be. Initially it might be a hard swallow for most Lee enthusiast but to his credit Connelly engages the reader into a rarely seen and understood facet of the Lee mythology.In the book we get to see not only the construction of the Lee legend but the reason for it`s longevity as well. In truth this was the first book on Lee I`d ever read and glad to say it was a good choice as it is an articulate and informative primer to a world filled with honor,duty,religion,love,ideology, romance and tragedy. I highly recommend it to any reader who wishes to explore the most loved general on either side of the american civil war,the man,the soldier,the legend that is Robert Edward Lee.
Rating:
Summary: The Marble Man deconstucted.
Review: whether Connelly admits it or not he too is enamoured by the Lee mystique but than again which Lee historian wouldn`t be. Initially it might be a hard swallow for most Lee enthusiast but to his credit Connelly engages the reader into a rarely seen and understood facet of the Lee mythology.In the book we get to see not only the construction of the Lee legend but the reason for it`s longevity as well. In truth this was the first book on Lee I`d ever read and glad to say it was a good choice as it is an articulate and informative primer to a world filled with honor,duty,religion,love,ideology, romance and tragedy. I highly recommend it to any reader who wishes to explore the most loved general on either side of the american civil war,the man,the soldier,the legend that is Robert Edward Lee.
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