very so often a book comes along that you realize will become a staple. In the tradition of Frederick Dyer’s , Mark Boatner III’s , or even more similarly the and Earl Schenck Miers’ , Charles R. Knight’s is destined to be around for a long, long, dogeared time. Beginning on April 17, 1861, with Lee receiving invitations from General Winfield Scott and Francis P. Blair to call on them in Washington the next day, and ending on April 15, 1865, with his return to Richmond, intervening events from the mundane to the momentous are laid out in clear and concise prose. Each day’s present-tense entry begins with a parenthetical summary of precisely where Lee began and ended each day and where he spent the time between. Each month’s calendar is introduced in brief summary by the author, keeping the reader informed of the “big picture” for context.
