everdee19's review
3.0
This is not the best biography you'll ever read but it's passable and generally achieves the goal of giving the reader more information about a very interesting revolutionary war hero.
Much like one of the other reviewers, I could nitpick a slew of things I took exception to, but I won't. Just know this book is a good start for learning about the Lee family.
Much like one of the other reviewers, I could nitpick a slew of things I took exception to, but I won't. Just know this book is a good start for learning about the Lee family.
spinnerroweok's review
3.0
The first half was mostly his military career during the American Revolution. Without maps, (this was an audiobook.) talk of battles is boring for me. The second half was more interesting, and it fleshed out more of his personality.
socraticgadfly's review
2.0
Fairly pedestrian, with errors and "issues"
First, it's nice that we have the first bio of Lee in a couple of decades.
Now, that said?
First, the "issues."
If Cole knows American history as much as he has extensively written, he wouldn't have claimed Adams as president wasn't wedded to Federalist ideas. Both Federalists and Democrats had factions and shifts in the first 10-15 years of our current constitution. Adams was wedded indeed to ideas accepted across the Federalist stream; he just wasn't wedded to ideas particular to Alexander Hamilton.
(Sidebar: Why do so many conservatives of a limited-government stripe so extol Hamilton today? The man, by an honest expression of their own principles, was a flaming radical.)
So, another 10 or so pages here and there, thickening out the politics of 1787-1809 or so, maybe 15 pages, was well desired.
Next? Debtor's prison was a very serious thing 200 years ago. Tell us more about it Mr. Cole?
Third and related? Land speculation was also a very serious thing 200 years ago. Tell us more about how LHH was able to be so charming in seeking loans, capital, etc., and how much more charming he may have been than the typical speculator. Cole gives us nothing on dollar amounts, acreage, etc.
I mean, from six years ago, there's a 2013 book with 250 pages on just his military time. And it's probably in smaller type with tighter leading than this.
Fourth? NO photos? None other than the cover, of LHH himself? None anywhere of either wife, children, father? Major failure. Also, no photos of the Lee estates lost by his debt speculation? Makes it look like this book was put out on the cheap.
Fifth? The book is in part military history. No battle or campaign maps? A bigger illustrative failure, arguably, than the lack of photos (of family paintings).
Sixth? No bibliography. Clear sign this is not a "serious" work.
And, errors! (If the Adams stuff above is an issue, not an error.)
"Pittsburgh" was misspelled as "Pittsburg" throughout the entire book. Per comments above, comes off as cheapness in editing and publication process. (Maybe Regnery had a rush job due to a tenuous connection with the neo-Confederate types at Charlottesburg, etc.)
And, no, "thousands," if one assumes this means at least 2,000, didn't die at Valley Forge of starvation.
Several errors there.
First, the highest estimate is that at most, an even 2,000 died.
Second, while starvation was often a contributing factor, it was NOT the primary factor. That bugaboo of pre-20th century armies, camp sanitation, was the primary cause of most deaths.
Third, it repeats a myth. The reality is that the Morristown winter two years later hit the Continental Army harder.
Third error? If Cole understood Deism and how prevalent it was among the Founding Fathers, he wouldn't call Lee's views on Jesus' divinity "shocking." Within that class, they weren't. Maybe he believes them to be, but that's different.
First, it's nice that we have the first bio of Lee in a couple of decades.
Now, that said?
First, the "issues."
If Cole knows American history as much as he has extensively written, he wouldn't have claimed Adams as president wasn't wedded to Federalist ideas. Both Federalists and Democrats had factions and shifts in the first 10-15 years of our current constitution. Adams was wedded indeed to ideas accepted across the Federalist stream; he just wasn't wedded to ideas particular to Alexander Hamilton.
(Sidebar: Why do so many conservatives of a limited-government stripe so extol Hamilton today? The man, by an honest expression of their own principles, was a flaming radical.)
So, another 10 or so pages here and there, thickening out the politics of 1787-1809 or so, maybe 15 pages, was well desired.
Next? Debtor's prison was a very serious thing 200 years ago. Tell us more about it Mr. Cole?
Third and related? Land speculation was also a very serious thing 200 years ago. Tell us more about how LHH was able to be so charming in seeking loans, capital, etc., and how much more charming he may have been than the typical speculator. Cole gives us nothing on dollar amounts, acreage, etc.
I mean, from six years ago, there's a 2013 book with 250 pages on just his military time. And it's probably in smaller type with tighter leading than this.
Fourth? NO photos? None other than the cover, of LHH himself? None anywhere of either wife, children, father? Major failure. Also, no photos of the Lee estates lost by his debt speculation? Makes it look like this book was put out on the cheap.
Fifth? The book is in part military history. No battle or campaign maps? A bigger illustrative failure, arguably, than the lack of photos (of family paintings).
Sixth? No bibliography. Clear sign this is not a "serious" work.
And, errors! (If the Adams stuff above is an issue, not an error.)
"Pittsburgh" was misspelled as "Pittsburg" throughout the entire book. Per comments above, comes off as cheapness in editing and publication process. (Maybe Regnery had a rush job due to a tenuous connection with the neo-Confederate types at Charlottesburg, etc.)
And, no, "thousands," if one assumes this means at least 2,000, didn't die at Valley Forge of starvation.
Several errors there.
First, the highest estimate is that at most, an even 2,000 died.
Second, while starvation was often a contributing factor, it was NOT the primary factor. That bugaboo of pre-20th century armies, camp sanitation, was the primary cause of most deaths.
Third, it repeats a myth. The reality is that the Morristown winter two years later hit the Continental Army harder.
Third error? If Cole understood Deism and how prevalent it was among the Founding Fathers, he wouldn't call Lee's views on Jesus' divinity "shocking." Within that class, they weren't. Maybe he believes them to be, but that's different.
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