Embattled Rebel: Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Civil War

Product Description

From the Pulitzer Prize - winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom, a powerful new reckoning with Jefferson Davis as military commander of the Confederacy

History has not been kind to Jefferson Davis. Many Americans of his own time and in later generations considered him an incompetent leader, if not a traitor. Not so, argues James M. McPherson. In Embattled Rebel, McPherson shows us that Davis might have been on the wrong side of history, but that it is too easy to diminish him because of his cause's failure. Gravely ill throughout much of the Civil War, Davis nevertheless shaped and articulated the principal policy of the Confederacy - the quest for independent nationhood - with clarity and force. He exercised a tenacious hands-on influence in the shaping of military strategy, and his close relationship with Robert E. Lee was one of the most effective military-civilian partnerships in history.

Lucid and concise, Embattled Rebel presents a fresh perspective on the Civil War as seen from the desk of the South's commander in chief.

'The best concise book we have on the subject . . . James M. McPherson is . . . our most distinguished scholar of the Civil War era.' Steven Hahn, The New York Times Book Review

'Provocative and persuasive . . . a lightning-quick but lingering read that will appeal not only to Civil War buffs but also the those curious about the southern presidency and government.' The Wall Street Journal

' A fine study of Jefferson Davis's military leadership.' The Washington Post

'Open minds are in short supply today, so it is refreshing that Civil War scholar and Pulitzer-winning author James M. McPherson has taken a fresh look at a subject with which is he eminently familiar.' Christian Science Monitor