Embattled Rebel
Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Civil War
Penguin Publishing Group · Print & ebook · September 15, 2015
From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom, a powerful new reckoning with Jefferson Davis as military commander of the Confederacy “The best concise book we have on the subject… McPherson is… our most distinguished scholar of the Civil War era.” —The New York Times Book Review History has not been kind to Jefferson Davis.
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- Who it’s for
- McPherson revisits Davis’s wartime leadership with a clear-eyed account of policy, strategy, and a difficult legacy.
- Genres
- Civil War Era, Presidents & World Leaders, Military Lives
- Published
- Penguin Publishing Group, September 15, 2015
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From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom, a powerful new reckoning with Jefferson Davis as military commander of the Confederacy “The best concise book we have on the subject… McPherson is… our most distinguished scholar of the Civil War era.” —The New York Times Book Review History has not been kind to Jefferson Davis. Many Americans of his own time and in later generations considered him an incompetent leader, not to mention a traitor.
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Not so, argues James M. McPherson. In Embattled Rebel, McPherson shows us that Davis might have been on the wrong side of history, but that it is too easy to diminish him because of his cause’s failure. Gravely ill throughout much of the Civil War, Davis nevertheless shaped and articulated the principal policy of the Confederacy—the quest for independent nationhood—with clarity and force. He exercised a tenacious hands-on influence in the shaping of military strategy, and his close relationship with Robert E. Lee was one of the most effective military-civilian partnerships in history. Lucid and concise, Embattled Rebel presents a fresh perspective on the Civil War as seen from the desk of the South’s commander in chief.
Leadership Under Fire
McPherson revisits Davis’s wartime leadership with a clear-eyed account of policy, strategy, and a difficult legacy.
Come here for
- A closer look at Jefferson Davis as commander, beyond easy verdicts
- Civil War strategy viewed from the Confederate president’s desk
Expect
- Concise, lucid Civil War history
- A focus on military command and civilian leadership
Where it sits
| Civil War Era | 60% |
|---|---|
| Presidents & World Leaders | 43% |
| Military Lives | 31% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Lives in History
- U.S. Military History
- Civil War Era
- Authors
- James M. McPherson
- Publisher
- Penguin Publishing Group
- Published
- September 15, 2015
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- Lives in History