Marker
Friday, October 28, 2016
Thursday, October 27, 2016
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.
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.
