Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining
Review: An interesting, but slow to develop, tome. Don't laugh too hard at me. Dr. Freeman HAS been anointed. His works ARE to be respected. I realize I sound like an incredible nitpicker when I say this, but, I found I had the hardest time with the amazing number of laudatory adjectives solely reserved for Lee. Even Lee's most trusted subordinates, like Longstreet, whose infallible service Lee himself deeply valued until the very last second of the war, are, to Dr. Freeman, ineffectual, conniving and self-serving. The Federals (who just simply preserved the intent of our collective Founding Fathers legacy by the way) are ALWAYS abusive, slow thinking, states rights squashing bumpkins while the Confederates are ALWAYS the most noble of constitutionalists (his outrageous word, not mine) and, in case you did not catch the drift here, the Confederates were, of course, "The very best of breed." At least Lee was. To me, Dr. Freeman unwittingly does the South, the Confederacy and Robert E. Lee an incredible disservice. This IS a good book. Just recognize from the outset that it is written in the most arrogant of the then current styles. Truly, you can find vignettes of Civil War history which cannot be found anywhere else. That alone is worth the effort. There IS good history here. But gosh, Dr. Freeman makes you work for it! It seems his 2 central tendencies are: 1) To continue, even enhance, the nobility of The Myth of the Lost Cause. (Gosh again, Dr. Freeman, slavery was wrong, even in 1860! The US was one of the last 2 countries in the world to still have slaves institutionalized as a ligitamate class or strata in its society. Yep, there we were in all our glory, tied at the bottom of the list with Brazil (!!), with half of our nation trying to perpetuate human bondage. Even the Brits had seen the light. How else do you rationalize European non-intervention? And 2) that the rebels really were not in the South. Rebels were those ethnic loving, Northern abolitionists. (Actually, racism was just as healthy, just as established and just as very wrong an institutional class difference in the North. Why else were Union Gettysburg veterans dispatched to quell violent race riots in New York City as 1863 came to a close?) I am not sure if it was intended, but the unabashed love for Lee is so chauvinistic that I found myself more than once wondering if the author truly would have preferred to see 2 nations emerge from the Revolution of 1776. How else can one justify the amazing effort of a 588 page abridgment of a 4 volume biography that took who knows how long to write. Obviously, it is a true labor of love by Dr. Freeman. But, I think, there is also one long, huge, complex question an author of Dr. Freeman's intelligence must have continually grappled with: How can so infallible a man such as Dr. Freeman portrays Robert E. Lee to be, who was so consistently right, almost always and almost at all times, who faced such confusing and complex internal and external political and military challenges for 4 long years, failed to have seen that he spent the best years of his life fighting for the worst thing in the world, slavery. Read between the lines.
Rating: 
Summary: Informative & complete
Review: Douglas Freeman presents the life of Robert E. Lee well from his early days up through his last days at Lexington. Interestingly enought, some of the most intriguing stories are from Lee's days fighting in the Mexican/American War. After finishing this book, my first thought was to pick-up a book on that conflict. But that's not to say the rest of the book lacks the same insight, and indeed, its interesting that Lee's biggest flaw appears to be his "gentleman's way". It would appear that if Lee were more like Patton, the outcome of the Civil War might have very well been different. Unfortunately, by the end of the book it becomes very evident that the author can't seem to come up with enough glowing characterizations of the General and the overly God-like descriptions become old and make one wonder how accurate the character judgements were. But regardless, the book is very well written and enjoyable/informative to read. Any person who has a budding interest in the Civil War must read this novel. Its well worth the investment in time & money.
Rating:
Summary: Informative & complete
Review: Douglas Freeman presents the life of Robert E. Lee well from his early days up through his last days at Lexington. Interestingly enought, some of the most intriguing stories are from Lee's days fighting in the Mexican/American War. After finishing this book, my first thought was to pick-up a book on that conflict. But that's not to say the rest of the book lacks the same insight, and indeed, its interesting that Lee's biggest flaw appears to be his "gentleman's way". It would appear that if Lee were more like Patton, the outcome of the Civil War might have very well been different. Unfortunately, by the end of the book it becomes very evident that the author can't seem to come up with enough glowing characterizations of the General and the overly God-like descriptions become old and make one wonder how accurate the character judgements were. But regardless, the book is very well written and enjoyable/informative to read. Any person who has a budding interest in the Civil War must read this novel. Its well worth the investment in time & money.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent military biography!
Review: Douglas Southall Freeman's "Lee" is THE definitive biography of Robert E Lee. Released almost 75 years ago, it was a phenomenal bestseller in its day and set the standard for Civil War research and biography for the next fifty years. Although some modern Civil War historians have taken issue with Freeman's overwhelming pro-Lee bias, none have ever seriously disputed his research or his passion for his subject. If you want to read a biography upon which all other Lee biographies (whether favorable or critical) are based, then Freeman's "Lee" is the one. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: The Summit of American military biography...
Review: Douglas Southall Freeman's multivolume "R.E. Lee" may have been published nearly three-quarters of a century ago, but this abridged version remains the best single biography ever written about the legendary Confederate general. Although there have been numerous books written about Lee, none have come as close to capturing Lee's military genius, or why so many Southerners enthusiastically fought and died under his banner, as does Freeman's work. When it was first published "Lee" was a sensation, and in the 1930's only Margaret Mitchell's wildly fictionalized "Gone With the Wind" surpassed it in sales and publicity. Senator Harry Truman read every volume, as did other famous political and military leaders. Freeman's work did much to spread the "Lee Legend" outside the South and made Lee into a national, and not merely regional, icon. Of course, Freeman has since been criticized, and in some ways justly so, for his overwhelming pro-Lee bias. In Freeman's elegant prose Robert Edward Lee is nearly perfect in every respect - he is a modest, deeply religious man who dislikes slavery and secession but reluctantly agrees to side with his native state of Virginia when the Civil War begins. If the rest of Freeman's story sounds familiar it is because this book made it so. Lee, despite facing constant shortages of men and supplies, meets the overwhelming forces of the Northern States and defeats them in battle after battle. Yet after each defeat the Northerners simply recruit new soldiers, resupply their vast armies, and come after Lee's valiant but shrinking forces again and again. In the end not even Lee's tactical genius can save the outnumbered and outgunned Confederates from eventual (and in Freeman's opinion, inevitable) defeat. Naturally, other historians have not always agreed with this view of the Old South's greatest icon, and later books on the "Gray Fox" have disputed Freeman's assertions that Lee was opposed to slavery and secession, or that his military decisions were always correct. For example, Freeman argues that the South lost the crucial Battle of Gettysburg largely because of the stubborness and jealously of Lee's second-in-command, General James Longstreet. Longstreet had opposed Lee's plan in June 1863 to try and crush the Northern Army of the Potomac by invading Pennsylvania and forcing the Yankees into a final, apocalyptic battle on their own turf. On the second day at Gettysburg Lee ordered Longstreet to have his men attack a small rocky hill, called Little Round Top, which offered a commanding view of the battlefield. Longstreet didn't want to attack such a well-defended position, and instead he tried to convince Lee to simply move around the Northern Army's flank and attack it from behind. According to Freeman, when Lee disagreed with Longstreet's suggestion and ordered him to attack the hill, a sullen Longstreet moved so slowly against Little Round Top that it gave the Yankees time to "dig in" and repulse his assault. However, more recent historians (as exemplified in Michael Shaara's famed novel, "The Killer Angels") have claimed that Longstreet was correct in his reluctance to attack Little Round Top, and that Lee should have taken Longstreet's advice. Yet no matter how disputed Lee's strategy or beliefs are in these "politically-correct" times, this book's elegant prose, flawless research, and passion for its subject shine through on every page. There may have been other books written about Robert E Lee, but none have done so well at potraying his life or in explaining why, even today, his tactics are studied at military academies and his legend continues to thrive in many parts of the South. A genuine "must-read" for any Civil War buff or student of military history.
Rating: 
Summary: A beautifully written Hagiography
Review: Every serious student of the Civil war and U.S. history in general must read this book. The book is absolutely critical to an understanding of the myths of the Lost Cause and Lee as "the Marble Man" that dominated all Civil War scholarship, North and South, until the last few decades. This is not a book that can really be taken seriously as a work of history or biography. The comments by other reviewers that it is not objective and that there is an agenda at work here are polite understatements. In the world Dr. Freeman grew up and lived in -- late 19th and early 20th century southern U.S. -- "the War Between the States" had nothing to do with slavery and everything to do with the noble Confederates fighting a holy war, literally sanctified by God almighty, against a literal evil Empire in the North. The rhetoric in this book, unabashedly presented as fact, embodies and promotes that viewpoint. Robert E. Lee is, as presented by Freeman, no less a divine, infallible utterly good being than Christ himself. (Those, by the way, are not overstatements). It is difficult not to chuckle sometimes when reading Freeman's gushing prose. I stifle the laughter by remembering the dark side of this idolatry and worship for the Lost Cause: the racism, segregation and murder of African-Americans (and sympathetic whites) in the American South that until relatively recently was sanctioned by laws passed under the shade of the Confederate flag. This book is an historical artifact, a reminder of a point of view that still exists, albeit in a mercifully less widespread way. If that is known going in, reading it is a must.
Rating:
Summary: A beautifully written Hagiography
Review: Every serious student of the Civil war and U.S. history in general must read this book. The book is absolutely critical to an understanding of the myths of the Lost Cause and Lee as "the Marble Man" that dominated all Civil War scholarship, North and South, until the last few decades. This is not a book that can really be taken seriously as a work of history or biography. The comments by other reviewers that it is not objective and that there is an agenda at work here are polite understatements. In the world Dr. Freeman grew up and lived in -- late 19th and early 20th century southern U.S. -- "the War Between the States" had nothing to do with slavery and everything to do with the noble Confederates fighting a holy war, literally sanctified by God almighty, against a literal evil Empire in the North. The rhetoric in this book, unabashedly presented as fact, embodies and promotes that viewpoint. Robert E. Lee is, as presented by Freeman, no less a divine, infallible utterly good being than Christ himself. (Those, by the way, are not overstatements). It is difficult not to chuckle sometimes when reading Freeman's gushing prose. I stifle the laughter by remembering the dark side of this idolatry and worship for the Lost Cause: the racism, segregation and murder of African-Americans (and sympathetic whites) in the American South that until relatively recently was sanctioned by laws passed under the shade of the Confederate flag. This book is an historical artifact, a reminder of a point of view that still exists, albeit in a mercifully less widespread way. If that is known going in, reading it is a must.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but Freeman's multi-volume work is still the best
Review: Good, but read R.E. Lee, Freeman's unedited four-volume set on General Lee for a better insight into Lee family history (which was surely a motivation for the general), Virginia life and of course the full, in-depth story of this American hero's life before and after the war.
Rating:
Summary: An excellently written biography!
Review: I have not even yet finished reading "Lee," but I have enjoyed it so much that I would like to give my opinion of it. This is a very well-researched, thoughtfully written biography, by an author who was not only a good historian but also a good writer. Robert E. Lee's whole life is laid before us in very good order, and it is interesting to read about Lee's life during the years other than 1861-1865. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book because Freeman does not glorify Lee, although it is evident that he has a high opinion of Lee. However, Freeman does not disappoint his readers by dwelling on Lee's weak points. He actually does point out his faults, but he does it objectively, and fairly, instead of pouncing on Lee and tearing him apart. This is the perfect biography of Robert E. Lee to buy if you want to know just why Lee is such a great figure in American history. It is fair, thorough, and very well-written.
Rating:
Summary: An excellently written biography!
Review: I have not even yet finished reading "Lee," but I have enjoyed it so much that I would like to give my opinion of it. This is a very well-researched, thoughtfully written biography, by an author who was not only a good historian but also a good writer. Robert E. Lee's whole life is laid before us in very good order, and it is interesting to read about Lee's life during the years other than 1861-1865. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book because Freeman does not glorify Lee, although it is evident that he has a high opinion of Lee. However, Freeman does not disappoint his readers by dwelling on Lee's weak points. He actually does point out his faults, but he does it objectively, and fairly, instead of pouncing on Lee and tearing him apart. This is the perfect biography of Robert E. Lee to buy if you want to know just why Lee is such a great figure in American history. It is fair, thorough, and very well-written.
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