Synopses & Reviews
A dual biography of two iconic leaders: how they fought a bloody, brutal war then forged a lasting peace that fundamentally changed our nation.
They met in person only four times, yet these two men determined the outcome of the Civil War and cast competing styles for the reunited nation. Each the subject of innumerable biographies, Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee have never before been paired as they are here.
Exploring their personalities; their character; and their ethical, moral, political, and military worlds, William C. Davis finds surprising similarities between the two men as well as new perspectives on how their lives prepared them for the war they fought and influenced how they fought it. Davis reveals Leeand#8217;s sense of failure before the war, Grantand#8217;s optimism during disaster, and the sophisticated social and political instincts that each had waging a war between democracies.
Synopsis
A dual biography and a fresh approach to the always compelling subject of these two iconic leaders
Synopsis
Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee have never before been paired as they are here. In Crucible of Command, William C. Davis, one of America's preeminent historians, presents a thoroughly fresh portrait of these great commanders, revealing their personalities, their character, their ethical and moral compasses, and their political and military worlds as they took each other's measure across the battlefield. The result is history at its finest and one of the great books on the Civil War.
About the Author
William C. Davis is the author or editor of more than fifty books in the fields of Civil War and Southern history, as well as numerous documentary screenplays. A three-time winner of the Jefferson Davis Award, given for book-length works in Confederate History, he was senior consultant for the AandE Network's 52-episode documentary series Civil War Journal. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and serves on several other consultative bodies. He lives in Blacksburg, Virginia.