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Alan T. Nolan
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Lee Considered: General Robert E. Lee and Civil War History (Civil War America) Paperback – September 23, 1996

by Alan T. Nolan (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 74 ratings
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Of all the heroes produced by the Civil War, Robert E. Lee is the most revered and perhaps the most misunderstood. Lee is widely portrayed as an ardent antisecessionist who left the United States Army only because he would not draw his sword against his native Virginia, a Southern aristocrat who opposed slavery, and a brilliant military leader whose exploits sustained the Confederate cause.

Alan Nolan explodes these and other assumptions about Lee and the war through a rigorous reexamination of familiar and long-available historical sources, including Lee's personal and official correspondence and the large body of writings about Lee. Looking at this evidence in a critical way, Nolan concludes that there is little truth to the dogmas traditionally set forth about Lee and the war.
Previous page
  1. Part of series
    Civil War America
  2. Print length
    243 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    The University of North Carolina Press
  5. Publication date
    September 23, 1996
  6. Dimensions
    6 x 0.55 x 9 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0807819565
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0807845875
  9. Lexile measure
    1430L
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lawyer and historian Nolan considers how the historical Lee differed from the legends about him.

Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Nolan doesn't question Lee's undeniable greatness. [He] subjects the sources to brutal cross examinations. . . . His purpose is to place Lee within his proper historical context. . . . Nolan asks the right questions about Lee, especially his generalship."
-- Peter S. Carmichael, "Civil War Times"

ÝFuture authors¨ will have to face up to Nolan's material and we will all be the better for it.

"Washington Post"

His argument is a persuasive one, artfully fashioned to stimulate the critical assessment he seeks.

"New York Times Book Review"

No student of the Civil War can afford to ignore the challenging and controversial conclusions of this study.

James M. McPherson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Era of the Civil War"

"His argument is a persuasive one, artfully fashioned to stimulate the critical assessment he seeks.

"New York Times Book Review""

"Lee Considered" should be required reading for anyone who would understand the Confederacy's most famous soldier.

Gary W. Gallagher

"No student of the Civil War can afford to ignore the challenging and controversial conclusions of this study.

James M. McPherson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Era of the Civil War""

[Future authors] will have to face up to Nolan's material and we will all be the better for it.

"Washington Post"

Nolan dethrones the myth of 'the Marble Man' with meticulous research.

"New Republic"

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0807845876
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The University of North Carolina Press; Reissue edition (September 23, 1996)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 243 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0807819565
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0807845875
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1430L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.55 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 74 ratings

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Alan T. Nolan

Alan T. Nolan

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
74 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Danzer
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful Book that Really Annoys the KKK!
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2017
Verified Purchase
There are Lee fans who never really have "considered" Lee in the first place, so this isn't a "re-consideration." Nolan justifiably argues that Robert E. Lee's actions have never really been "considered" in the way that other historical figures are, and makes a strong case that Lee's actions were tantamount to treason (he was, after all, a US Army officer who then took up arms against his own country), and that the country's continued veneration of him was a symptom of the larger disease of segregation and oppression-- making Lee and the confederacy to be 'hero and victim" rather than the brave African-Americans who fought for their freedom and the Union soldiers who died in that honorable cause. As a southerner by upbringing, I have to agree-- Lee's veneration-- especially by those in the north- has an element of racism because it deliberately denies what really happened, and who especially fought powerfully in a moral cause. The veneration of Lee is a sign of the futile nostalgia for slavery which held the south back for another 100 years.
11 people found this helpful
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Hedley Lamarr
5.0 out of 5 stars Finally a book that says something negative on Lee
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2010
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Great book. Great read. You don't even have to be open minded to read this book. The author verifies what Lee really said about slaves and "those people up north." Book tells it like it is for once. Lee was the best the CSA had, with the exception of maybe Jackson. However, he was a racist (however less than a lot from the south and north, but he really didn't care about the blacks - He sold them, and had his work hands whip them, and hunt them down). Most of all, he was a traitor. Yes! I said that right. Many Generals from Virginia stayed with the Union. The most famous General at the start of the Civil War - Winfield Scott. Scott a Virginian stayed with the fight for the union. Lee said he had to go with Virginia (hogwash). He was a great general, but remember Grant kicked his behind.
16 people found this helpful
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Tom Nolan
5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great book, but the used copy I bought online ...
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2015
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This is a great book, but the used copy I bought online was from a library. Made me a little nervous that it was being sold. But the book is great!
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Mrs Prairie Bear
3.0 out of 5 stars Tedious
Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2018
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The author sets out to demolish the Lost Cause view of Lee and largely succeeds in refashioning him as a mere mortal given to inconsistent and occasionally hypocritical views and actions. Nolan's penchant for using a flamethrower when a flyswatter would have sufficed makes for tedious, repetitious reading. I actually put both my husband and myself to sleep reading aloud from the book, a first.. An Important addition to the CW canon, but mercilessly overwritten and needing a better editor.
13 people found this helpful
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William R. Drake
4.0 out of 5 stars Very educational; Makes Lee more human
Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2012
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I was raised in Virginia, and my great-grandfather, a Mississippi colonel and infantry commander, fought in Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. These and other factors have prompted me to read a couple of biographies of Lee, a leader I have always admired. I came across a reference to the book Lee Considered by Alan Nolan, as well as Thomas Connelly's The Marble Man: Robert E. Lee and His Image in American Society, in James McPherson's forward to Lee (c1961, 1991). Lee is the abridged one-volume edition of Douglas Southall Freeman's 1934 monumental four-volume biography of Lee (titled R.E. Lee). Considered the definitive work on Lee, Freeman's four volumes (which took twenty years to write) earned a Pulitzer Prize and have strongly influenced later historians. In the forward to the one-volume abridgement, McPherson noted that the legend Freeman helped create contains a great deal of truth. McPherson also noted, however, that Freeman, who was a Virginian, and whose father fought under Lee, was very biased towards a positive image of Lee, and that he "portrayed a Lee almost without blemishes or warts." In acknowledging efforts by some recent historians, such as Connelly and Nolan, to present a more accurate picture of the general, McPherson expresses his opinion that they "have put in the warts and blemishes, perhaps too prominently."

Interested in a view of Lee that is more historically accurate than generally portrayed, I ordered the books by Nolan and Connelly. While Nolan may or may not be correct in regards to Lee's military leadership, and some other matters, he clearly shows, with Lee's own words, that, among other things, Lee's concept of "honor" and his views on slavery and blacks are much murkier than Freeman and others have portrayed. (For example, while Lee stated that he favored gradual emancipation and that slavery was an "evil," he also wrote, "Concerning the relation of master and slave, controlled by humane laws and influenced by Christianity and an enlightened public sentiment, as the best that can exist between the white and black races while intermingled as at present in this country, I would depreciate any sudden disturbance of that relation unless it be necessary to avert a greater calamity to both." Freeman refers to Lee's belief in emancipation but does not mention Lee's words supporting slavery.)

Nolan, while acknowledging that Lee was a great person, brings out Lee's humanness and successfully refutes the unfortunate portrayal of him as a saint who lived a perfect life. Rather than being a biography of Lee, or dwelling on Lee's positive aspects, the book focuses on dissecting and correcting the "myth" of Lee. I found Nolan's book too repetitious at times (hence 4 instead of 5 stars), but well researched, thoroughly documented, and quite educational. It relies extensively on Lee's own writings. Anyone who is seriously interested in Lee would benefit by keeping an open mind and reading Nolan's book.
14 people found this helpful
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bill
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2018
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great shape, it's about time we recognize the real truth.
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Kevin Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2014
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Outstanding look at the mythology surrounding Robert E. Lee and the effect of Lost Cause mythology on his historical memory. Highly recommended for serious historians.
8 people found this helpful
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Lostinthepages
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2017
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great bool. It is about time, Lee history gained some perspective.
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Top reviews from other countries

Roberto Ripamonti
5.0 out of 5 stars Was the real Robert E Lee the same as that purported by the South?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 24, 2014
Verified Purchase
This book debunks the myths surrounding Robert Lee, the South's patron saint still to this day. Written by a well informed lawyer, this author's arguments must be considered, as they are most convincing and well backed up.
2 people found this helpful
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