Jefferson Davis, American

Rating:
Summary: Excellant most intriguing read
Review: At first I was curious what happened to Jefferson Davis after the war then i was curious why he was named president of the confederacy and then I wondered what happened to him during the Civil War. Hence I picked up this book and had my questions answered. I'll leave the answers to the reader. I found the book generally informative and well written. I always have to fight my way through early life in a bio, but Davis' life was interesting and well described by Cooper. The sections describing Davis public life before and during the war were well written and quite interesting. Cooper does a good job of explaining the southern mind in the 1850's. I have a couple of quibbles with the book. First Cooper can be quite repetitive giving the same fact or story over again, sometimes within 3 pages of the first statement. Second there are some contradictions. For example Cooper talks about what good friends Davis and Seward were til the end. But then he tells about Seward's desire to jail, try and maybe hang Davis. He mentions how bitter they were too. How does he reconcile these facts? Overall though, a good pick up for somebody curious about Jefferson Davis and the south, especially before the Civil War.

Rating:
Summary: A Refreshingly Objective Biography
Review: Being a product of the Philadelphia Public school system, I knew little of the man Jefferson Davis, other then that he was the president of the Confederacy. Recently taking interest in this fasinating time in American History i scooped up this book, and was very impressed. Cooper has an extreamly lucid flow to his writing for the most part. One does not feel bogged down by all the facts coming at you, making it easy to read, and to absorb the story. Although I thought Davis's views are currupted and villanous in todays world, I have come to respect this remarkable man and his eventful life.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent up to date study of the Confederate President
Review: For me this book dispelled a great deal of the myth and unknown surrounding the life and times of Jefferson Davis.

A great deal of the books focus stretches across the life of Davis prior to 1861 and his life after 1865. His life and times are fascinatingly recreated by Mr. Cooper in a well written and researched book.

This is a must for any Civil War buff and any reader of this period of American history.

Rating:
Summary: A worthwhile look at a controversial figure
Review: I have always enjoyed reading historical biographies; in the past few months, I've read about such interesting figures as Thomas Paine, Henry Clay, John Adams and Daniel Webster. Now Jefferson Davis joins this group.

A common trait in these biographies (as well as others I've read) is that the writer, while usually objective, in general looks favorably upon his subject. To some degree, this makes sense, as the writer would not spend years of his life on a subject he really didn't like. With Jefferson Davis, a person who is often considered one of the villains in American history, this presents more of a challenge.

In this work, Davis comes off as neither a hero or a Hitler, but somewhere between: a strongly principled man who unfortunately had some majorly incorrect principles, especially when it came to slavery. It is a very interesting read, and though I disagree with the basis for the Southern cause, it was fascinating to read another point of view.

Although well-written, this book does have some flaws. Although reasonably objective, Cooper occasionally allows his pro-Davis bias to distort or omit certain facts. In addition, at times he skips around a bit in the chronology, which is a bit confusing. Nonetheless, there is enough good material here to rate it around four-and-a-half stars, which I round up here to five. To enjoy reading this book does not mean to agree with Davis; it just means you have an opportunity to broaden your knowledge of the Civil War era.

Rating:
Summary: A worthwhile look at a controversial figure
Review: I have always enjoyed reading historical biographies; in the past few months, I've read about such interesting figures as Thomas Paine, Henry Clay, John Adams and Daniel Webster. Now Jefferson Davis joins this group.

A common trait in these biographies (as well as others I've read) is that the writer, while usually objective, in general looks favorably upon his subject. To some degree, this makes sense, as the writer would not spend years of his life on a subject he really didn't like. With Jefferson Davis, a person who is often considered one of the villains in American history, this presents more of a challenge.

In this work, Davis comes off as neither a hero or a Hitler, but somewhere between: a strongly principled man who unfortunately had some majorly incorrect principles, especially when it came to slavery. It is a very interesting read, and though I disagree with the basis for the Southern cause, it was fascinating to read another point of view.

Although well-written, this book does have some flaws. Although reasonably objective, Cooper occasionally allows his pro-Davis bias to distort or omit certain facts. In addition, at times he skips around a bit in the chronology, which is a bit confusing. Nonetheless, there is enough good material here to rate it around four-and-a-half stars, which I round up here to five. To enjoy reading this book does not mean to agree with Davis; it just means you have an opportunity to broaden your knowledge of the Civil War era.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible Bio - READ IT!
Review: Jefferson Davis is a good book, and the writing and research generally well-done. The author searched through original sources sometimes contradicting established views. Though the book is over 800 pages, it reads easily from Davis's West Point days through the war. Cooper's analysis of how Virginia became a slave state and how war developed are particularly interesting and insightful. But something is missing, the insightful at least balanced analysis we expect from a classic.

Davis advocated slavery, and his legacy was spent trying to preserve it, at the cost of thousands of lives and untold destruction. Yet this central issue seems to get glossed over with Cooper seemingly unwilling to condemn this atrocity. Instead we get this picture of Davis as this kindly old gentlemen, with slaves well-cared for and working alongside him or his father. While Davis's supposed caring for slaves is repeated, none of them stuck with him durign the tough times of the civil war, and presumably they would see his "generosity" differently.

Cooper fails to look at it some obvious contradictions in Davis. President Davis had no problem with slaves being chained and travelling months across the ocean, and then periodically chained or beaten. Yet when after the war Davis was jailed and restrained for a few weeks he went absolutely ballistic. Let, me out, let me, LET ME OUT! I'm chained, I can't live like this, the ex-president exclaimed. While taking a black man away from his family was part of life, Jefferson had extreme difficult coping with estrangement from his family.
Noting the difference between what Davis tolerated for others and for himself would have been useful.

At varoius times, Davis's happy family life, activity in the community, and pleasantries are noted. But can we ignore the other part. Take this example. Him... was a loving husband, active in the church, a good friend, and a caring family member. He will be remembered for his devotion to his countries, the long hours he spent trying to make it better, his organization skills, and the lists he kept. His name was Heinrich Himmler, and as chief of the Gestapo, he helped imprison over 1,000,000 Jews, gypsies, partisans and others, sending them to painful humiliating deaths, with 8 and 9 year old children among his victims. Would an analysis of Himmler be as fair if we discussed his life but said he had a "minor" gap.

I hope that in a future version, the author can take a good book, well-researched, written nicely, and make it into a great one, at least a fair and balanced one. Davis was an American in the same sense that many of our persidents were slaveowners and like today some of our guards brutalized those from other countries. Davis's legacy is not a pleasant one, and his tremendous moral failing is the centerpience oof his legacy, not a brief point to be noted in a preface.

Rating:
Summary: Jefferson Davis is Remarkable and Intriguing
Review: Jefferson Davis, American by William J. Cooper, Jr. At 784 pages, this is a straightforward and comprehensive volume of work which seems a very truthful portrayal of Davis and the character of his life. Filling the texts are many quotes from and excerpts from correspondences, particularly to and from Varina Davis. It is a unique perspective to follow along side of Jefferson Davis from the days of his boyhood; through his education at West Point; his service in the Mexican War; his marriage to Sarah Knox Taylor - daughter of Zachary Taylor; his political career as a representative of his native Mississippi; his term as Secretary of War for president Franklin Pierce; his absentee election to the Presidency of the Confederate States of America; a two-year stay as prisoner in Fortress Monroe; his travels through Europe; meager business ventures during reconstruction; to Beauvior and the writing of his memoirs. The happiness and heartache of love and family matters, and of raising children are ever present through this remarkable journey. Jefferson and Varina lost all four of their sons to death before any could marry. Davis was a man of the highest character and maintained his unwavering conviction that the south had acted justly and constitutionally in its bid for independence until the end of his life. I appreciated the honesty of the book and its obvious loyalty to the reality of the times. The world was a different place during Davis's life and I feel that Cooper has done a fine job of bringing the era to the reader.

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the definitive work on Pres. Davis
Review: Mr. Cooper has appeared to have written the definitive biography of the somewhat reluctant leader of the Confederacy. I purchased this book with the realization I knew relatively nothing about Mr Davis' career. It is certainly an eye-opening tale. I applaud the fact that Mr Cooper offers a more sympathetic view to this grossly misunderstood man. A certifiable hero of the Mexican War,and innovative Secretary of War, Mr. Davis indeed had to conquer his personal demons as well as the "enemies at the gate", in the guise of other Southern malcontents like Louis Wigfall of Texas, and Robert Toombs of Georgia. Mr. Cooper accurately portrays Jefferson Davis as, in essence, a man who was fighting a losing battle from the beginning.

Rating:
Summary: Imperfect book, imperfect man make a real Song of the South
Review: The story of Jefferson Davis is not only the stuff of Southern mythology, but part of America's story. Tragedy, often in Greek proportions, and more subdued triumphs, mark the tides not only of Davis's life and the fortunes of the Confederacy, but also the textures of an often misunderstood and misrepresented culture in the antebellum South, a way of life that was already sadly out of step, and out of time even before the American Civil War.

Jefferson Davis, son of a pioneering veteran of the Revolution, was as much a son of the fading slave-agrarian culture, the tatters of Thomas Jefferson's vision of a nation of gentleman planters, as he was a product of his time and his environment. Though born on the Kentucky frontier, the Mississippi familiar to Jefferson Davis would guide his conscience, many of his decisions, and color his world view in a way that never allowed much circumspection or evolution of his fundamental ideas. Davis, like most of us, was only adaptable to a point. His adaptability, his ability to see the need for it, ended where his Crusader-like zeal and antiquated sensibilities began. To that end, Davis was, like the majority of his contemporaries and peers, a man out of time, as much with the thrust and tempo of America's perceived identity and direction as with larger forces that were shaping and driving human history.

Prof. Cooper attempts to pin down Davis's motivations, ideals; his beliefs, hopes and fortunes in this book, and fails in his presentation as often as he succeeds. At times he seems ready to explain away many of Davis's transgressions, his complexity. While the reader is given ample insight into Davis's faith, strict constructionist interpretation of the Constitution, his feelings about slavery and African-Americans; his internal struggles as a man, a politician and, eventually, the elected president of the Confederacy, there is something in Prof. Cooper's treatment that presents an emptiness at the core of Jefferson Davis the man. In spite of the fact that Cooper quotes copious correspondence, newspaper accounts, and includes the observations of Davis's contemporaries, there emerges a void that transcends merely a life of hardship and disappointment. While Davis's convictions and abilities as a man, a husband, a father, a soldier, and statesman are substantially presented, the essence of Jefferson Davis is still hidden -or obfuscated-and as isolated as the man himself obviously felt during periods of his life.

I want to believe there was more than dogma at the center of Jefferson Davis, more than static ideas and crystallized convictions that were not only eroded over time, but insulted and destroyed as life took away not only his children and other loved ones, but his beloved fantasy that was the Confederacy. I prefer to think there was more to Davis, but can never be certain by reading Prof. Cooper's effort.

Nonetheless, there's a lot of fascinating information about Davis, so much revealed in this volume, that no reader completing it can ever again view Davis in the same light. We are given, through the fruits of Prof. Cooper's scrupulous research, everything from Davis's health to his diet; his cigar-smoking and his lifelong belief that blacks were an inferior race, to his anfractuous political world and the multitude of forces tearing at and competing for his heart. The reader is shown a man who, if nothing else, ultimately allowed his emotional convictions -which, to many, appeared proper in their time and place-to override reason. Tragically, Davis did not understand that by the time he had risen to high Southern society and arrived in politics, he remained entranced by a vision of America that was medieval in many respects, or at least married to a kind of white lifestyle that was already an unsustainable illusion. Davis, a man of definite ideas and an incredible amount of fortitude, perhaps could not know any different -which is no justification for many of the things he did and did not do.

By no means heroic in the broadest sense, and certainly not an object to be reviled, Davis is a perfect candidate for a biography about a deeply-flawed, deeply human (if not always humane) individual who led what some people still revere as a tragic "cause," as much their own "cause" as it was Davis's. All the ingredients are there, but somehow they fail to coalesce into more than episodic pictures of Jefferson Davis and those around him at different periods in his life.

Prof. Cooper's prose is dense and often repetitive. In too many instances I read and re-read the same information only pages apart, sometimes verbatim. In my opinion a biography of Jefferson Davis should be a page-turner not only because of its subject, but because it is well-written. This is not a particularly well-written biography, but I couldn't put it down because I found Davis so intriguing. I don't know if another historian could have done as much justice to Davis as Prof. Cooper has attempted, but wish someone else had tried to reanimate and paint Jefferson Davis and his many worlds.

Perhaps Prof. Cooper did the best he could with what history has left us.

Though some essential spark is missing in this relentlessly researched work, those interested in understanding anything about Jefferson Davis and his circumstances, as offered by Prof. Cooper, will find many interesting things here. Others may come to better understand the cultural and geographical divide that seems to make the American south, then and now, a place where the dead don't stay buried long, where the perfume of rotting magnolia petals can make one drunk; a place that lives and breaths from its bayous to its mountains in a kind of dream time, in its own rhythm; a mythological place where some things really are, or were, bigger and grander, and others really were worse, more terrible; a South that is as foreign as it is friendly, a place understood by very few and loved by many.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible Bio - READ IT!
Review: William J. Cooper has taken one of the most confused and often misjudged figures in American history and written a very detailed and entertaining portrayal of the first and only President of the Confederate States. Many people would be surprised to find out that in the antebellum south, Jefferson Davis was a staunch Unionist and adamantly opposed secession until he had no other choice and was literally thrown into the presidency of the Confederate States of America, whether he liked it or not.

Cooper is careful not to glorify or demean Davis in any way. The Confederate president definitely had his flaws, the most prominent of which was his undying support of slavery.
Between all the positives and negatives, Jefferson Davis was a man of his time. If you are a civil war buff or just someone who wants to read a very well written piece of work on American history, Jefferson Davis, American is highly recommended.