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Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters | 
 enlarge | Author: Elizabeth Brown Pryor
Publisher: Viking Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
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Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 452095
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 688
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.4
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 6.1 x 2.1
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.73092
ASIN: B001CJS6G8
Publication Date: May 3, 2007
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Product Description
For the 200th anniversary of Robert E. Lee s birth, a new portrait drawing on previously unpublished correspondence
Robert E. Lee s war correspondence is well known, and here and there personal letters have found their way into print, but the great majority of his most intimate messages have never been made public. These letters reveal a far more complex and contradictory man than the one who comes most readily to the imagination, for it is with his family and his friends that Lee is at his most candid, most engaging, and most vulnerable. Over the past several years historian Elizabeth Brown Pryor has uncovered a rich trove of unpublished Lee materials that had been held in both private and public collections. Her new book, a unique blend of analysis, narrative, and historiography, 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. The result is perhaps the most intimate picture to date of Lee, one that deftly analyzes the meaning of his actions within the context of his personality, his relationships, and the social tenor of his times.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
 Very good work! June 13, 2007
James Durney (Tampa Bay area)
35 out of 41 found this review helpful
Is their person more of an icon than Robert E. Lee? Toward the end of the war, he was the living symbol of the Confederacy's hope. After his death, he became the Christ-like central figure in Myth the Lost Cause, the "marble man" of history. The Politically Correct Myth of the Civil War insistently attacks him as a traitor and slave owner while trying to show his feet of clay. Biographies tend to be sugarcoated stories of his life, denouncements or pseudo-psychological studies of his "mental problems".
This book contains none of the above and allows the Lees among others to speak for themselves. The format of each chapter is a letter or excerpts from letters that introduce the subject followed by an intelligent and balanced discussion. Those looking to worship "General Lee" or those looking to damn him, will not be happy. However, if you wish to gain an understanding of the man, this is an excellent book. The author is neither judgmental nor loving. She presents Lee within the confines of his class, training and the times. This helps the reader understand the decisions made and his actions. What emerges is an intelligent, ambitious family man doing what he feels is best.
On of the nicest items in the book is the author's recognition of the pseudo-psychological studies and why they fail to explain the man. While this in not a major item in the book, it shows a sense of fairness lacking in some books. It is hard not to admire Robert E. Lee and the author clearly admires him. However, I never felt that this admiration interferes with her honest evaluation of him. After reading the book, I agreed with the observation "Cousin Robert is only human" and had all the contradictions of the species.
A good look at the life of Robert E. Lee May 25, 2007
JAD (The Sunshine State)
33 out of 39 found this review helpful
For those who wish to have a good look at the life of Robert E. Lee in one volume, this is the book to use as a basic biography and guide. Author Elizabeth Brown Pryor has taken letters written by Lee as the springboard for each of the chapters of the book, corresponding with the chapters in his life. This gives the reader a chance to read and sense the tone of the celebrated General, in his own words. Surely, this was not an easy task since there are about 10,000 known letters of Robert E. Lee scattered hither and yon. To find, read and cull the best of these must have been both Herculean and painstaking. One suspects it has also been a labor of love.
Those with the sketchiest knowledge of Lee will remember that his father was a Revolutionary War era hero, that he had an almost unparalleled record as a West Point cadet, that he married into the Custis and therefore Washington family, making him not only one of the First Families of Virginia but also of the First Family of America. Of course best known is Lee's choice to side with state and kindred during the Civil War and the resultant verve and disappointment on the field of battle.
In this 200th birthday anniversary year, Pryor fleshes out these facts with a nuanced portrait of a complex man whose personal and professional life are not as easily summarized as one might suppose. Dealing with those who came before her who served as Lee's uncritical biographers, Pryor demythologizes Lee in a respectful way, allowing him to be not only three dimensional but also multifaceted. She also gives an outstanding precis of aspects of the Lee hagiography and misconceptions that have persisted through repetition. It would be correct to call Pryor's approach even-handed. She clearly appreciates that Lee was a towering figure in his time; she also allows the reader to see his eccentricities.
The book is excellent on some challenging subjects such as Lee's attitude toward slavery and how it compares to the attitudes of his contemporaries. Pryor also gives us an account of Lee's unabashed affection for women. The chapter on Lee's tenure as head of West Point speaks volumes about how Lee was perceived by those who observed him as a professional soldier preparing others to be professional soldiers.
The author's description of what went right and what went wrong at some of the key battles of the war, notably Gettysburg, are well done, and will provide both the general reader and the Civil War expert good starting points for conversation. Even so, I must confess that the second part of the book was for me slower-going than the first half. Whether that is due to Lee, Pryor or me, I am not sure. Nor am I sure what to conclude about Robert E. Lee--a man of honor (rightly placed or mis-placed), of brilliance (and obstinacy) in peace and in war, and a man who took a road less traveled by which made all the difference.
The book has many fine illustrations scattered throughout the text, including many portraits and photographs of Lee from youth to old age.
Elizabeth Brown Pryor has previously given us a similar life of Clara Barton. Pryor is both an award-winning historian and senior diplomat in the American Foreign Service, having served as a senior adviser to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe of the U.S. Congress.
Revolutionary and vital. Absolutely indispensable. July 15, 2007
Matthew Penrod (Washington, DC)
30 out of 38 found this review helpful
I have been a park ranger at Arlington House, The Robert E. Memorial for 17 years now and I can honestly say that I have read at least five biographies, assessments, evaluations or interpretations of Robert E. Lee for each of those years. I am certain that when all the books and articles are added together they number close to a hundred. It's important that I do that. It's my job and my responsibility to have as comprehensive an understanding of Robert E. Lee's life as is possible so that I can honestly and accurately convey it to the people who visit and the students who partake in our education programs. But with all of these books and articles there is a certain consistency, not with interpretation but with information. It is safe to say that since Douglas Southall Freeman wrote his landmark, Pulitzer Prize winning four volume biography in the 1930's the assumption has been that there is nothing new that can be found out about Lee. Freeman's work was so exhaustive, seemingly leaving no stone or document unturned, that, it seems, every biographer of Lee since then has taken the approach that no new research was needed or possible. Instead, it became the fashion for biographers and other historians to simply take what Freeman researched and interpret it in whatever way they wanted. Thomas Connelly chose to psychoanalyze Lee in a groundbreaking and exceptionally flawed work, The Marble Man while Alan Nolan chose a lawyerly approach, constructing the case against Robert E. Lee in his book, Lee Considered, as if Lee had never been considered before. And there have been others, many quite reverential but the problem with all of them is that they've all used the same information. Writing about Lee ceased being about scholarship and instead became bickering op ed pieces. And the greatest crime of it has been that it has made Robert E. Lee uninteresting. How many times can you read the same things, no matter what way they've been spun, and still remain excited? I stopped being interested in reading things about Lee over five years ago. I have forced myself to keep reading but there has been no joy in it.
Until now. Elizabeth Brown Pryor and her extraordinary new book, Reading The Man, has single-handedly revived what was hitherto unrevivable. She has made Robert E. Lee come to life in a way that no other writer has ever been able to do and she has done it in a way that should make every other biographer of Lee blush: she has let the man speak for himself and she has done it through new research. Yes, new research. Certainly much of the new material she has uncovered has been locked away in trunks for almost a century so other researchers including Freeman had no access to it. But some of what she's used has been available to researchers for decades they just chose not to look. Intellectual laziness? Or have researchers just been content with what they've had? Fortunately, Elizabeth Pryor was neither lazy nor content and what she has constructed is a masterpiece of biographical examination. The Lee that springs from her pages is dynamic and emotional, conflicted and complex, playful and loving and nothing like he has ever been portrayed before. But the magic of this work, what truly elevates it beyond mere interpretation into what can only be described as revolutionary, is how Ms. Pryor manages to be both critical and sympathetic with her subject. With Lee it has always been you either revere or revile him. There has been no middle ground. Those that simplified him to the point of mere symbolism insured that. He was either the Christ like martyr of the Lost Cause or the white supremacist Benedict Arnold of the Civil War. But Elizabeth Pryor has shown us, has proven beyond reproach, that you can be critical of someone and still like him. You can point out his flaws but empathize with his humanity. You can be honest without defilement. What Ms. Pryor has done for all of us interested in history, the Civil War and Robert E. Lee is incalculable. She has, quite literally, shown us a new way to examine our common history and truly learn from it. We would be fools not to follow her.
 Shoddily researched July 12, 2007
Fruit Loop (Down South)
27 out of 58 found this review helpful
Ms. Pryor's "biography" would have more credibility had she simply published Lee correspondence; instead she includes second- and third-hand sources, many of which have been debunked, an attempt to psychoanalyze General Lee and define his character. In one infamous incident, she quotes a rumor of slave-whipping whose sole "source" was anonymous letter to the New York Tribune in the middle of the war, which claimed that then-Colonel Lee had personally whipped a female slave. Yet Pryor claims there were five witnesses to this event, however fails to name them.
The slaves in question didn't even belong to Lee; they were the property of his father-in-law, who directed in his will that they be freed within 5 years, yet gave no means for doing so. In fact, George W.P. Custis was nearly bankrupt, forcing Lee to send those who wished to go to Liberia at his own expense. He apprenticed several to tradesmen and had them all taught to read and write so that they could employ themselves in their new lives. These classes were conducted by his own daughters, Agnes and Annie Lee. Miss Agnes Lee's diary has been published and she mentions her pupils many times.
The many existing letters exchanged by the Lee family with former Custis slaves show a continual bond that give the lie to any claims of abuse.
As for Lee being a "ladies man": Pryor fails to understand the custom of the time - more suited to the medieval game of "courtly love." Flirtations occurred but there was no impropriety or marital infidelity. In fact, the devotion of Robert and Mary Lee to each other during their lifetimes was extraordinary.
Ms. Pryor goes on to credit several sources whose antagonism to the Lee family and southern history is well known. Although the collection of Lee correspondence is well worth the read, any suppositions as to their character and content by this particular author can't help but lack for credibility. Quite disappointing. Only two stars
Meeting the person May 13, 2007
Richard R. Drabik (Dayton, OH)
26 out of 35 found this review helpful
As of the writing of this review (5/13/07) I am only 50 some pages into this book and I am already finding it the best book written for any one with a desire to place RE Lee the man into the framework of family, society, and the unique culture of his time.
I will add to this review as I move through the book.
(5/31/07) I am now more than 260 pages into the book and it is still capturing my attention and drawing me into a deeper discovery of REL.
This is NOT revisionist history. If you are looking for something to help get you past the "Lost Cause Mythos" of the Civil War and crack the surface of Lee as the so-called "Marble Man" then this is the book for you.
If there is one thing I wish the author had done differently it would have been helpful to have a time line of Lee's life pointing out major events, as well as a family tree of the families that are central to the history.
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