No other general in American history has attracted the attention and adoration accorded to Robert Edward Lee, the peerless chieftain of the Confederacy. Indeed, in all of history, only Napoleon can vie with Lee for the hold he maintains on the imagination of students and admirers around the globe. Succeeding generations have invented and reinvented Lee, trying to make him a man for their own times, and year after year the writings of worshipers and revisionists-and occasionally even revilers-continue to come out. It is time for a step back, to take a reflective look at Lee through neither the eyes of adoration nor iconoclasm, and that is what eminent Southern historian Charles P. Roland does in Reflections on Lee: A Historian's Assessment. One of the country's most distinguished students of the South and the Civil War, Roland used the accumulated wisdom of a long career to draw a fresh picture of Lee-the man, the soldier, the symbol. Reflections on Lee is not a conventional biography, though the outline
Dr. Charles P. Roland is emeritus professor of history at the University of Kentucky and has enjoyed a long, distinguished career as an educator and historian, including service as the visiting professor of military history at both the United States Army
"Based on years of contemplation, and rebuffing voices of negativism, Roland presents Lee as Americans prefer to know him: the Christian gentlemen, brilliant soldier, and tragic hero. This is an excellent study by one of the most respected historians in the Civil War field." -James I. Robertson, Jr., author of The Stonewall Brigade and Soldiers Blue & Gray--James I. Robertson Jr. "Roland's Reflections on Lee gives us not only the great military leader, but the man himself, as he really was in his time, and what he meant to the South and the nation. Highly informative, perfectly balanced and gracefully written, it should be on the shelf of everyone interested in the Civil War." -Charles Bracelen Flood, author of Lee: The Last Years--Charles Bracelen Flood Reflecting decades of mature thought and scholarship by presenting a sharply focused, even-handed portrait that thoroughly humanized the lofty 'Marse Robert, ' Professor Roland's study will serve as the best introduction, as well as the most insightful summation, of the life of the Civil War's greatest commander. Lee and Roland are a perfect match." -T. Michael Parrish, author of Richard Taylor: Soldier Prince of Dixie--T. Michael Parrish
