Reading the man : a portrait of Robert E. Lee through his private lettters
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (p. [619]-640) and index.

For the 200th anniversary of Robert E. Lee's birth, a new portrait drawing on previously unpublished correspondence. Lee's war correspondence is well known, but the great majority of his most intimate letters have never been made public. They reveal a far more complex and contradictory man than the one who comes most readily to the imagination. This book presents dozens of these letters in their entirety, most by Lee but a few by family members. Each letter becomes a departure point for an essay that shows what the letter uniquely reveals about Lee's time or character. The material covers all aspects of Lee's life--his early years, West Point, his work as an engineer, his relationships with his children and his slaves, his decision to join the South, his thoughts on military strategy, and his disappointments after defeat in the Civil War.--From publisher description.