"Making Sense of Robert E. Lee" Topic

"Few figures in American history are more divisive, contradictory or elusive than Robert E. Lee, the reluctant, tragic leader of the Confederate Army, who died in his beloved Virginia at age 63 in 1870, five years after the end of the Civil War. In a new biography, Robert E. Lee, Roy Blount, Jr., treats Lee as a man of competing impulses, a "paragon of manliness" and "one of the greatest military commanders in history," who was nonetheless "not good at telling men what to do."

Blount, a noted humorist, journalist, playwright and raconteur, is the author or coauthor of 15 previous books and the editor of Roy Blount's Book of Southern Humor. A resident of New York City and western Massachusetts, he traces his interest in Lee to his boyhood in Georgia. Though Blount was never a Civil War buff, he says "every Southerner has to make his peace with that War. I plunged back into it for this book, and am relieved to have emerged alive."

"Also," he says, "Lee reminds me in some ways of my father."…"
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Amicalement
Armand

"Blount, a noted humorist, journalist, playwright and raconteur, is the author or coauthor of 15 previous books"

Yeah, because that's who I trust to write a well researched history book.

Few figures in history are more divisive, contradictory or elusive than (fill in the blank).

Standard faux historian gibberish. You could say that about almost any prominent figure in history. And the further in time you go back, the more contradictions you find. And why is that? Because we know historical records of places and events, but when it comes to the private thoughts and motivations it becomes a guessing game and sources often contradict each other.

Good point!.

Amicalement
Armand