Robert E. Lee

This book is highly readable and fascinating in its insights. For a short biography, it is packed with information that one would not find in a more encyclopedia-type treatment. Blount's narrative style flows nicely and he includes enough humor to make the book sparkle. In fact there is a section at the end just on Lee's humor. Blount does a good job of explaining Lee's upbringing, marriage and early adult life, and especially... Read Full Review

Several generals of the American Civil war are enigmas, to various extents. Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson, for instance, is very difficult to read, because he left so little in the way of letters or whatever that tell you anything of what he was thinking. Robert E. Lee was equally close-mouthed about this sort of thing, and amazingly stiff and standoffish with most male acquaintances and friends, to boot. The result is that... Read Full Review

I am not familiar with the author, Roy Blount, from his previous writings, but I believe that he showed himself quite an able biographer with this latest edition of the Penguin Lives series. In some ways, his assignment was the most difficult of characters to study. Robert E. Lee is one of the more enigmatic figures in American history, but it is hard to say why he is not just a footnote instead of a figure of reverence,... Read Full Review

Blount helps us understand the real Lee for a change, not the "marble man" admired and revered by simple Civil War buffs. Those looking for yet another breathless account of the same old stories will be intellectually overmatched by the insightful, sensitive and illuminating portrait Blount presents. A real contribution to understanding Lee, the Civil War, and the mindset which led the nation to and through that disaster... Read Full Review

This is the fourth Penguin Lives title I've read (the other three being Auchincloss on Wilson, Keegan on Churchill, and Johnson on Napoleon), and for pure biography, this one is the best of the four. Other reviewers who criticize the relative superficiality of Blount's analysis need to recognize that the Penguin Lives are not intended to be comprehensive, ground-breaking studies. That just couldn't be done in under 200 pages.No,... Read Full Review