The Making of Robert E. Lee

Rating:
Summary: Place it back on the shelf!
Review: Fellman attempts a survey of sorts of Robert E. Lee's musings on a myriad of topics. As usual with political correct revisionism, Lee's OWN thoughts don't get in the way of Mr. Fellman's own bias and conjecture. Sure to be a big hit, however, with those of an anti-Southern slant.

Rating:
Summary: what does Fellman have against Robert E Lee
Review: If you are looking for a book that provides illogical and unsupported arguments for the mere sake of casting a new light on the character of Robert E Lee, this is the book for you. I know very little about Lee, but I do understand the importance of presenting arguments and backing them up with facts. He seems to OVERANALYZE every letter Lee ever wrote. His arguments are poorly supported. His research seemed thorough, but his conclusions are wholly illogical and without any hint of factual support.

Rating:
Summary: New insight into Lee's character
Review: Some years ago Marble Man was published, explaining how post-war Confederates turned Lee into the symbol of fallen Southern chivalry. However, the first part of the book, a psychobiography of Lee, was extremely weak, because the author was unacquainted with 19th century norms of language and conscience.
Fellman has made a systematic study of ALL of Lee's private correspondence throughout his life: the letters written to his wife and children, to the young ladies he enjoyed flirting with, and his military/political correspondence.An entirely new figure emerges, free of the accretions of Douglas Freeman.
Far from being reluctant to leave the US Army in 1861, he embraces the Confederate cause. A man of his time and place, he carries the racism implicit in the Southern viewpoint. Most interestingly, his post-war career at Washington College shows him completely aware of his role as a political actor who represents the fallen cause. Must reading for any serious student of the Civil War.