Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Jefferson Davis, American by William J., Jr. Cooper ISBN: 0375725423 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 13 November, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.35
Rating: 5
Summary: A worthwhile look at a controversial figure
Comment: I have always enjoyed reading historical biographies; in the past few months, I've read about such interesting figures as Thomas Paine, Henry Clay, John Adams and Daniel Webster. Now Jefferson Davis joins this group.
A common trait in these biographies (as well as others I've read) is that the writer, while usually objective, in general looks favorably upon his subject. To some degree, this makes sense, as the writer would not spend years of his life on a subject he really didn't like. With Jefferson Davis, a person who is often considered one of the villains in American history, this presents more of a challenge.
In this work, Davis comes off as neither a hero or a Hitler, but somewhere between: a strongly principled man who unfortunately had some majorly incorrect principles, especially when it came to slavery. It is a very interesting read, and though I disagree with the basis for the Southern cause, it was fascinating to read another point of view.
Although well-written, this book does have some flaws. Although reasonably objective, Cooper occasionally allows his pro-Davis bias to distort or omit certain facts. In addition, at times he skips around a bit in the chronology, which is a bit confusing. Nonetheless, there is enough good material here to rate it around four-and-a-half stars, which I round up here to five. To enjoy reading this book does not mean to agree with Davis; it just means you have an opportunity to broaden your knowledge of the Civil War era.
Rating: 5
Summary: Solid, first-rate biography
Comment: Cooper, who has written a number of fine books about the Civil War and the South, has produced what is certainly far and away the best available biography of Davis, an intelligent, extremely hard-working military leader and very successful Mississippi politician who will always suffer by comparison to the far greater lights of R.E. Lee and Lincoln. The author pulls no punches about Davis' weakness for certain favorite generals, his inability to exercise his critical faculties when dealing with inadequate generals such as John Pemberton of Vicksburg fame who were, he felt, strongly devoted to the cause, as well as his calamitous command decisions relating to the war in Tennessee and Georgia, involving the trio of Bragg, Joe Johnston, and Hood, but he puts a human face on the man and his family life, including, at times, difficulties with his independent-thinking wife, Varina, who was happiest in the 1850s when Davis was Secretary of War and U.S. Senator, and with his older brother, Joseph. Davis' longstanding health problems are also fairly addressed. Like his fellow Southerner Jimmie Carter, Davis was a micromanager, both in the War Department in Washington and in leading the Confederate military machine, but it is hard to see how a more inspiring, out-going leader than Davis could have made a difference in the ultimate lost cause of the Confederacy. Cooper also does an excellent job describing Davis' theories of constitutional government. Perhaps the high point of the book, however, is Oscar Wilde's visit to Davis towards the end of Davis' life; surely, Wilde was mocking when he said Davis was the person he most wanted to meet during his American lecture tour, but the two actually did meet. Given Davis' stuffy puritanism and lack of humor, and Wilde's dandyism and wit, the two were the ultimate Odd Couple. (Varina naturally loved Wilde's cosmopolitan wit.)
Rating: 4
Summary: Great biography
Comment: I read this because I've read other works by Cooper and think he's a first-rate historian. I also didn't know much about Jefferson Davis, except the things that get repeated in history books. This is a well-researched and well-written biography, and I learned a lot. Like one of the other reviewers, I wish there'd been an epilogue; Davis dies, the end. When I finished the book I thought of a line from a poem by Robert Lowell about another famous figure: "He was one of us only, pure prose." I don't know if that's because of the way Cooper presented Davis, or because Davis was, when it all comes down to it, "one of us"--no great hero, but someone who did the best he could.
The person who struck me as the most interesting was Davis's wife Varina, who captivated men as different as John C. Calhoun and Oscar Wilde and was an intelligent, educated, and strong woman. I hope somebody's working on a new biography of Varina!
 |
Title: An Honorable Defeat: The Last Days of the Confederate Government by William C. Davis ISBN: 0151005648 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 04 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
 |
Title: The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government by Jefferson Davis, James M. McPherson ISBN: 0306804182 Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: October, 1990 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
 |
Title: Jefferson Davis: Private Letters, 1823-1889 by Jefferson Davis, Hudson Strode ISBN: 030680638X Publisher: Da Capo Press Pub. Date: April, 1995 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
 |
Title: LEE by Douglas Southall Freeman, Freeman Douglas Southall ISBN: 0684829533 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: August, 1997 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
 |
Title: Look Away!: A History of the Confederate States of America by William C. Davis ISBN: 0684865858 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
