Embattled Rebel review

Embattled Rebel: Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Civil War by James McPherson

Like most other students of the war I read about Jefferson Davis before, both as a biography and also his presence in other books of the war.  I've been to the Confederate White House in Richmond.  I knew this book was a concise biography of Davis.  The beginning made it seem like it would be less biographical and instead focus on analyzing his decisions.  I was really excited to hear that.  However the book did not live up to that early message.  Instead it served as a short biography with only a tiny amount expended on analysis.  I can easily pinpoint the amount as well, it was a 10 disc book, with 10 tracks each.  The last 3 tracks focused on analysis.  So 3%.  Not what I was expecting.

Overall I'd say that yes this is a good book for someone wanting a concise biography of Davis.  If instead you'd rather skip that and dive into analysis, assuming the reader has the background info for the analysis, then this book falls far short.