Audiobook21 hours
Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters
Written by Elizabeth Brown Pryor
Narrated by Jo Anna Perrin
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Robert E. Lee is remembered by history as a tragic figure, stoic and brave but distant and enigmatic. Using dozens of previously unpublished letters as departure points, Pryor produces a stunning personal account of Lee's military ability, his beliefs, and his time, shedding new light on every aspect of the complex and contradictory general's life story. Explained for the first time in the context of the young United States's tumultuous societal developments, Lee's actions reveal a man forced to play a leading role in the formation of the nation at the cost of his private happiness.
Related to Reading the Man
Related audiobooks
With Malice Toward None: A Biography of Abraham Lincoln Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Bully Father: Theodore Roosevelt's Letters to His Children Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America: A Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lee: A Biography Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fierce Patriot: The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5NPR American Chronicles: The Military History Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Paul Revere's Ride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gettysburg Voices from the Front Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Union 1812: The Americans Who Fought the Second War of Independence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry Clay: The Essential American Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5John Adams: A Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5April 1865: The Month That Saved America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51777: Tipping Point at Saratoga Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5His Excellency: George Washington Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dawn's Early Light Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5General George Washington: A Military Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Young Washington: How Wilderness and War Forged America's Founding Father Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eisenhower in War and Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sherman: Soldier, Realist, American Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Union War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American General: The Life and Times of William Tecumseh Sherman Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Biography & Memoir For You
And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Local Woman Missing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If He Had Been with Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twisted Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Divine Rivals: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fairy Tale Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From Blood and Ash Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Series of Unfortunate Events #1 Multi-Voice, A: The Bad Beginning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Lies Between Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pet Sematary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing to See Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Small Mercies: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dead Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Five Years: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Reading the Man
Rating: 4.080645032258065 out of 5 stars
4/5
31 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The third book for our Less Stupid Civil War Reading Group, and the one I looked forward to with the least pleasure -- though a fair amount of curiosity. What I knew about Lee before reading this book could barely fill a thimble.I did appreciate Pryor's style, and her contextualization of Lee's early life. Pryor gave a lot of background information on current mores around marriage, roles of women -- particularly in slave-holding society, changing economic behavior, etc., that we hadn't really gotten in the other books. And Pryor deliberately takes on common myths about Lee -- that he opposed slavery and secession most notably.The whole thing -- especially the post-war period, had me constantly ruminating on the ways our stupid meat-brains work, and how much of Lee's post-war behavior was governed by his brain striving to reconcile to itself and to create a narrative of Lee's life that justified all the bloody and brutal losses he had been a part of -- that he'd led his men into -- with nothing, in the end, to show for it. How does anyone make peace with that and find a way to make forward?I have so many thoughts about Lee, and this book, and we had excellent, juicy discussions over it, but I won't go on with this review forever.I enjoyed this book more than I expected and learned a lot.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5By the end of the Civil War, Robert E. Lee had become an iconic American figure, as much myth as mortal even before his death in 1870. Since then, few historians have attempted to dig very deeply into the 'marble man' Lee became in Southern memory. Instead, the commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia is most often a legendary figure, rather than a human one, particularly in most histories of the Civil War era.Biography offers an opportunity to explore the real man behind the myth, and several have attempted a more realistic portrayal of Lee. Even these books still tend to struggle with the legendary Lee who is thought to embody all that was noble in the antebellum South. Historian Elizabeth Brown Pryor has devised an ingenious way to get around these obstacles in "Reading the Man," using Lee's own words, preserved in the vast number of letters he wrote, to present his life story.Lee was a prolific correspondent throughout his adult life, including during the Civil War years, and hundreds of these private letters survive. Using the full text of certain letters -- most by Lee, but a few by others sent to him or referring to him -- at the start of each thematic chapter, she then offers a context of theses letters using Lee's other correspondence and other historical sources. The resulting portrait is fascinating, showing a man who was devoted to his family but who struggled with the demands of his military life and the strain it caused on those relationships. While the decision whether to fight for the Union or resign his army commission and volunteer for Virginia is well known, it is clear in Pryor's account that Lee struggled with issues of duty and honor throughout his lifetime, partially because of the negative influence of his father, "Light Horse" Harry Lee, who was less than honorable, and partially because he frequently found military service frustrating.Particularly interesting are the chapters on Lee's service in the Army Corps of Engineers and his tenure as commandant of West Point. Lee's first serious military experiences after graduating from West Point were to oversee construction of infrastructure to preserve the port of St. Louis from the destructive forces of the Mississippi River. By all accounts, Lee handled the assignment well, though the impact of his engineering background upon his Confederate command is unexplored.Another key assignment before the Civil War, Lee's command of West Point, is reevaluated by Pryor. Unlike other authors who imagine that Lee's years at the military academy were warm and mutually beneficial, Pryor describes a leader who was not particularly well-liked by the cadets because of his strict discipline standards and his perceived distant personality. Given the adoration that Lee's Confederate troops gave him, it is difficult to imagine that, a few years before, few West Point cadets seemed to care that little for him as superintendent.Lee emerges as less of a mystery in Pryor's portrait. Through his letters, he seems more approachable as matters of family life, household problems, and work frustrations are discussed and endured. He also seems less of an icon, appearing to be reticent -- even shy -- around other people, though possessing both a subtle wit and a fierce temper. He is also highly compassionate and usually thoughtful of others, demonstrating wisdom gained from experience and some internal reflection -- though less so about matters regarding the slavery issue.In the end, Pryor's book is a superb approach to the actual Robert E. Lee behind the mythical 'marble man.' Well researched and heavily documented, the narrative incorporates much information that had been overlooked or undiscovered. More than this, Pryor writes with a clear and engaging style that will be appreciated by historians and general audiences.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the best biographies on Lee. It delves into his family life, military career and his views on slavery and secession. Every chapters begins with a letter either written by him or his family and friends.