Jefferson Davis: The Man and His Hour

by William C. Davis

“If the Confederacy falls, there should be written on its tombstone, ‘Died of a theory.’” As divisive a figure then as he is now, history remembers Jefferson Davis as the ill-fated President of the Confederate States of America. Like the Roman God Janus, he had two considered cold, aloof, petty, obstinate and vindictive, he was also witty, intelligent, affectionate, impervious to fear and loyal to a fault. Raised in Mississippi, at his brother’s behest he entered West Point and began the first of two Army careers; in the 1850s he would be named Secretary of War by Franklin Pierce. A staunch defender of slavery, Davis was an unusual he encouraged them to learn new skills, administer their own justice and provided them with a comfortable living. Yet Davis did not fully comprehend human nature. To him his logic was irrefutable, and he was never able to see how his remarks, while not necessarily ill-meant, might cause offence. However, his life was plagued by sickness and grief. In addition to his own health issues his first wife died tragically young, as did four of his six children with his second. A complex portrait of a complex man, William C. Davis’ endeavour methodically explores the life of the leader of the Lost Cause and how the man was made. Praise for Jefferson The Man and His Hour “The fullest and best biography yet written, a work that will remain a standard authoritative account of the life of the Confederate President.” — David Herbert Donald, New York Times Book Review “A dispassionate, well-researched, and skillful biography of a complex and controversial figure.” — Kirkus Reviews William C. Davis is an American historian and former Professor of History who specialises in the Civil War and Southern States. A prolific writer, he has written or edited more than forty works on the subject and is four-time winner of the Jefferson Davis Award.

Genres: Biography, Civil War, History, American History, American Civil War, Nonfiction, 19th Century

1159 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 1991

About the author

Currently professor of history at Virginia Tech, William C. Davis has written over fifty books, most about the American Civil War. He has won the Jefferson Davis Prize for southern history three times, the Jules F. Landry Award for Southern history once, and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

For several years, he was the editor of the magazine Civil War Times Illustrated. He has also served as a consultant on the A&E television series Civil War Journal.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.
Was not expecting one of the best written biographies to come from my quick detour to the one Confederate president, but here we are. Thankfully, the author does little in terms of apologies for Davis, rather being quite open with his terrible ideas and traits (though there's a bit of apology towards how Joseph treated his slaves.)
I found the book to be engrossingly written and really a beautiful portrait of a man who, in the authors words "was governed by his weaknesses, rather than Lincoln governing his weaknesses".
A balanced, non-apologetic take on a figure that is so important to American history, especially the negative aspects of it, that leaves me feeling that I've learned much, but there's more to explore.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this massive biography in an online sale for only 99cents. It was well worth the dollar invested in the purchase. The author does a remarkable job of showing Davis's character, warts and all. Davis was inflexible and micromanaged the Confederacy, even to the brink of collapse, both physically and mentally. Who knows what the outcome of the war would have been if Davis had taken field command of one of the Confederacy's armies? Certainly a topic worthy of discussion (and perhaps worthy of its own volume). Overall, a worthy effort and well worth the time spent.

[Alex Fensome · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have no sympathy for the cause Davis espoused or the things he believed in, but this book gives a well-rounded portrait of a flawed, determined man who was capable of greatness but lacked the self-awareness, insight and ability to transcend his times.

Undoubtedly the best section covers his flight from Richmond and eventual capture in 1865, as the hope he's sustained for five years dissolves in front of his eyes. It was unexpectedly moving and sad, though he deserved it.

Davis suffered many tragedies in his life - for all the fact he was willing to unleash horrific suffering on millions of his fellow human beings - and William C Davis succeeds in explaining why he did the things he did, what drove him and why he failed. It's also an interesting account of Varina's life - I learned a lot about someone I had only glimpsed in the background of other histories.

[Sam Stevenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is absolutely imperative that we remember our past and that MUST include the parts of our past that are mired in controversy. If we widdle history down to good vs evil, slavery vs freedom then our basic humanity and society prevents us from completely diving into the other side of the story. It is these parts of history that are so important.
This is a book I have gotten a few sideways glances for reading from people and I just think that is sad. This book, to me, is an absolute necessity for people wishing to learn about the Civil war and the men of the age. William C. Davis is one of the few men in the genre that blends his brilliant knowledge and research with an academic and, in its own right, beautiful writing style.

This book shows you something of the tragedy of societal biased and stigmas. My whole life, even having grown up in Texas, Jefferson Davis was simply “the President of the Confederacy” and nothing more. He was a trivia answer for me basically. William C.Davis brings the man to life and dies away with something that I hate in biographies and something that poor and untalented historians do all the time: calling a man an enigma or a paradox because he has some ideas that contradict. That is simply human and Jefferson Davis was a human being and William C. Davis portrays that humanity perfectly.

This book and the life of Jefferson Davis is something of a study on what would happen if a good man was forced into a position to be great. It can make good men look poor but Jefferson Davis, for all his controversy, was not a bad or evil man in charge of the black fog of the Confederate states who were bent of taking over the country and enslaving everyone. Jefferson Davis was a good man who would not back down from his beliefs and was thrust into a spot where he probably needed a different temperament. Davis was the most qualified man in the south for the position and was honorable in the position, but that does not mean he was perfect for the job.

Brilliant book all around and an author that does a credit to the genre.

[Linda Derrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a lot of books on the Civil War, but Jefferson Davis was still an enigma as most books I've read barely touched on him. This book by William Davis ended the mystery. Well researched (the list of resources is extensive), the author weaves together an incredible amount of detail into a thorough story that is also a very engaging read. The further I got into the book, the harder it was to put down. What little I knew about Jefferson Davis gave me the impression that I would not like him. I can't say this book changed my opinion, but it did increase my understanding of the man and his times - as the title indicates. The book does debunk erroneous information about Davis including his rumored attempted escape in women's clothing and marital affair with a supporter after the war. Comparisons with Lincoln are unavoidable, and certainly don't favor Davis. Yet I now feel I have an understanding of the man that I did not have before. Additional insight into the Confederate mindset, both that of Davis and of many of those he led is another benefit from this read. As a fan of historical biographies, this book easily climbs to the top of my list of favorites.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

The recent controversies about Confederate monuments and various tributes paid to Confederate leaders make this book a worthwhile read. I will say, however, that you have to be prepared for a very long and detailed read. This is a long book - over 700 pages. It's interesting, but long. I knew a fair bit about Jefferson Davis's time as President of the Confederacy, and a little bit about his political career before that - as a US Senator from Mississippi and as Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce - so a lot of what author William C. Davis offered about those periods of Jefferson Davis's life I already knew. I did appreciate the look at Davis's early life, and at his post-Civil War life, neither of which I knew a great deal about.

I came out of this not really certain what the author's take on Davis's life was. Certainly he provided a good look at both Davis's strengths and weaknesses, which in many ways were the same. On the positive side, he was completely committed to the cause of southern independence which he claimed and ultimately led. On the other hand he was so committed to his ideas that he couldn't even think about alternatives, turning people into enemies just because they disagreed with him and surrounding himself with friends who agreed with him and wouldn't challenge him. However, in the end, as another biographer I once read wrote about Davis - he led the cause as well as anyone could have and better than most would have. The author is clear about his belief that ultimately the south could not have prevailed, no matter who its leader was, and while Davis came in for much criticism during the war, the author notes his rehabilitation after the war, as he came to be fondly regarded by the people of the vanquished south. (I was quite taken with the author's take on Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston. Most of what I have read about Johnston has portrayed him as a highly regarded general; suffice to say that the author was not a fan of Johnston or his abilities as a general.)

Davis's personal life is looked at in great detail. His search for a father figure after the death of his own father when he was young is an ongoing theme of the book, as is his dependence on his older brother Joseph. There's a lot of interesting information about his marriage to Varina and their relationship. There's also a lot of information about his poor health, of which I wasn't especially familiar. There's really not a great deal about his views about slavery or African Americans. Suffice to say that he shared the general southern feeling that blacks were morally and intellectually inferior, although at least as slave owners go he seems to have been among the less offensive. One thing I learned is that Davis and Varina spent a lot of time in Canada after the Civil War. Having lived in the region, I knew that they had a connection to Niagara (the Canadian side) but I wasn't aware of how much time they spent in Quebec (mostly Montreal and Lennoxville) although I believe I have read that there's a plaque or something (or was) on a building in Montreal where Davis had lived.

Anyone with an interest in either Jefferson Davis personally, or the Civil War or the history of the Confederacy will find this a worthwhile book to read.

[Cullen Bohannon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book should be called "William C. Davis' Unflattering Opinion of Jefferson Davis Passed off as Historical Literature."
The tone of this writing clearly comes from a place totally lacking admiration or respect, which is extremely unfortunate. Several chapters read as if they are written for a history magazine and lack the narrative power of writers like Shelby Foote. A continual condescending theme exists when emphasizing his supposed manner of argumentation. This accelerates as the chapters go on. It reads like a disingenuous mainstream journalist rather than an objective historian like John Tolland. We would be lucky to have our lives unobserved by men like William C Davis.
Obnoxious at times and long-winded. One of the few works on this subject that I have debated completing.
Several times, many more than necessary, the author attempts to portray Jefferson Davis of having an absurdly framed character flaw: he presents his arguments logically and has the expectation that others follow his logic. Wow. What an indictment, and certainly a felonious demerit not found in any political figure in history. He actually presents his case and thinks he's right.
Perhaps the most audacious display was in Chapter 10, where I decided to put down this complete waste of time. While making a summary of an argument Davis made (which made perfect sense and was logically sound), the author writes as if the logic presented "incredible" and attempts to portray it as absurd.

I rarely put down a book half way, but this was atrocious and a sore reminder of how universities are polluted with professors who do awful jobs of veiling their biases when passing it off as "history." The only silver lining in this piece were some interesting pieces of information of the Mexican American war. Hardly enough to compensate for it's many flaws.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully detailed and insightful look into one of the most vilified and misunderstood participants in the Civil War. The Jefferson Davis in this biography is an intelligent, focused, prideful, stubborn, and intensely loyal man who was ill-suited to be the leader of an attempted revolution. Davis was a bureaucrat, not an executive. And this biography does a wonderful job of exploring that distinction between Davis' successes and failures and his feuds with Beauregard, Bragg, and Joe Johnston. Physically incapable of admitting error and inability to act as an effective executive only hastened the demise of the short-lived rebel state. A really stellar and enjoyable work.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great and objective biography of a troubled man in power. It is amazing, given the immense physical and emotional pain he experienced throughout his life, that he was able to accomplish so much. His experience as a Senator and as Franklin Pierce's Secretary of War prepared him well for his role as the President of the Confederacy. As debilitating as his neuralgia was, I found Davis to be more disadvantaged by his own critical, judgmental nature and inflexibility. He was well respected, but not well liked by most men who knew him. Indeed, he was the kind of cold, unfeeling man I would have expected John Quincy Adams to be.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book, and not one I would normally have read. I was kindly offered a digital copy for free from Endeavour Press to review and given my interest in the (American) Civil War, I decided I would try out the book on the President of the Confederacy. In that vein, the digital edition is quite good. I found few typos, and the linking within the ebook works quite well. The ebook is well-done.

The author, William Davis, does an admirable job of presenting the person Jefferson Davis, from boyhood to old age. I admit that I came to the book with a negative impression of Davis (I agree with US Grant that the Confederacy was "one of the worst for which a people ever fought, and one for which there was the least excuse"), but the book does a good job of evaluating Davis objectively. I cannot say that I have a positive impression of Davis now, but I do have a more nuanced impression.

We learn of Davis's childhood, his father, his older brother that acted more as a father, and Davis's traits that defined him for better or worse: obstinacy/steadfastness, loyalty, and an unshakeable belief that his opinion is right. We learn of his escapades at West Point, narrowly avoiding expulsion, and his short career in the military.

We get to Davis's political life (and his tour in the Mexican-American War), as he eventually became a Senator, and we learn of his views in the ante-bellum era. I was surprised to learn that Davis's slaves were actually treated relatively generously (but they were still slaves, so it is not like it was great...). The slaves on the plantation were not allowed to be whipped, and Davis by all accounts treated them rather well. He certainly shared the prejudices of his era about slaves capacities once free. The author notes that Davis treated children and women quite well, in addition. It was only those who questioned Davis that endured his obstinacy.

We then go on through Davis's Secretary of War stint, and get to the reason anyone writes about Davis, his presidency during the Civil War (the author says "The fact is that there is one reason, and only one, for writing or reading a biography of Jefferson Davis, and that is his quadrennium as leader of the Lost Cause"). Here the author understandably devotes a large portion of the book, and I think he does a good job of keeping the focus on Davis and his actions. I have read many Civil War books, and they often get bogged down in the details of battles; the author does a great job of avoiding this and simply explaining the overall situation, including how Davis's actions fit into the strategic picture. We then learn of Davis's final years, which were turbulent, but ended in peace.

The author mostly avoids questions that haunt most Civil War related books [ranging from answered questions, like "why did the war happen?", to "could the South have won?"]. He acknowledges that slavery drove the Confederacy into being, but does not dwell on it. Similarly, he does not engage in what-ifs for battles that could have gone differently and possibly changed the outcome of the war. I do not mean this as a criticism, as I think the author acknowledges the questions, but he only tackles them as they pertain to Jefferson Davis (since it is a Jefferson Davis biography, after all).

That said, the final chapter takes the Union's victory as a foregone conclusion. I am not one who buys the "Lost Cause". The author says "Any final verdict on Davis as war president must be predicated on the assumption that the Confederacy could not have won the war under the conditions it faced" or "had their roles been reversed, and Davis led the North and Lincoln the South, the Union would still have won". My own opinion is that it was certainly possible for the South to win, even if the chances were not great. The South could move troops internally around in a defensive war and needed to demoralize the North. This is difficult, but it's hard to believe it was impossible.

Overall, we are left with a portrait of a man who was not suited to the office. He had good friends and bad friends, and a good deal of the book also talks about his remarkable wife Varina. In the end, we are left with the fact that Jefferson Davis had many flaws, and he dealt with very difficult situations, but he fought a great effort for a cause that he believed in. But it was for an awful cause.

If you have strong interest in the Civil War era, I would definitely recommend the book as a viewpoint into the South and its leadership. The writing is quite good, although the themes of Davis's weaknesses can be hammered a bit too much. You will not be learning the details of battle, nor an in-depth analysis of the causes and driving forces of the war, but you will get insight into the era in which Davis lived and how the South was run. Given the length, it probably is not worth reading if you do not have a strong interest in the Civil War era or a particular reason to read about Jefferson Davis.

[Lloyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very interesting biography of the only President of the Confederate States of America. While the majority of the book covers the Civil War years, this biography also provides extensive information about Jefferson Davis’s life both before and after the Civil War. As a West Point graduate, he had a military career during the 1830s and early 1840s. Mostly his service was on America’s frontier at that time. Once he became a civilian, he did spend time overseeing his plantation in the state of Mississippi, where slaves worked in the fields. Interestingly, Jefferson Davis did not own the plantation he lived at. It was owned by his older brother Joseph, who was approximately 20 years older than Jefferson. Due to their father’s death when Jefferson was about 7 years old, the older brother became Jefferson’s mentor and father figure. While Jefferson was responsible for the plantation’s operations, his real interest was politics. He was a congressman, a colonel in the Mississippi Rifles that participated in the Mexican War; then a U.S. Senator and in Franklin Pierce’s administration he was the Secretary of War for 4 years before returning to the Senate. Once Mississippi succeeded from the Union, he resigned his Senate seat and became the President of the Confederacy. Jefferson Davis was an accomplished man, but many of his personal traits did not serve him well as President of the Confederate States of America. He was a very proud and vain man. He reasoned out many of the complex issues facing America in those years and once he came to his decision, he couldn’t comprehend how anyone would disagree with his conclusion. He also would spend extensive amounts of his time on minor issues that should have been delegated to other members of the Confederate government or his staff. As the civilian commander in chief of the Confederate army, he was hampered by poor Army Generals such as P.T.G. Beauregard and Joe Johnston, neither of which personally liked Davis, nor he them. But Davis kept appointing them to important commands, removing them when they failed and needing to reappoint them at a later date because he had no other ranking generals he could appoint to those commands. Then there were the generals who were personal friends of Davis who performed poorly, but Davis continued to rely upon them and not face up to their shortcomings. Generals Bragg, Pemberton and Polk fit into that category. The only general he trusted who served him well was Robert E. Lee. After the war, Davis endured imprisonment and the threat of a trial for treason. His plantation was ruined by the Yankee army during the war. His finances were in ruin. He wrote his memoir, but it did not sell well. He died in 1889 at the age of 81. If you are interested in the American Civil War, there is much you can learn about that period of time if you read this biography.

[Joshua Horn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jefferson Davis's life was a true tragedy. He suffered through chronic and crippling illness, the loss of his first wife, all his sons, and of course his upstart nation. I enjoyed this biography, it was well written and thorough enough to generally let the reader draw his own conclusions. But he clearly disliked his subject. I appreciate the space given to evaluating Davis' performance. He makes some large allowances for Davis - admitting that his mistakes can not be said to have altered the outcome of the war, and giving an likely too euphoric view of slave life on his plantation. But I think some of his criticisms are far too harsh, and sometimes he resorted to far too much psychoanalysis for my taste.

I took pages of notes on this book, but I'll try to just summarize some points that stood out.

Even his harshest critics would admit he was very brave and calm in a crisis. He was one of the greatest heroes of the Mexican War, and flirted with the idea of personally assuming command. I think he would likely have been very successful if he had become a Confederate general, rather than president.

I sympathize with a lot of his politics, and he appears to not have really compromised his strict constructionism even as wartime president. (I wish the book had touched on that a bit more) But I think as a staunch defender of slavery he missed out on the south's fundamental injustice and moral failiings, and failed to see the judgment that came on them through the war.

He had many faults. He was not a natural politician and refused to make an effort to cultivate them, or the press. Despite the resentment this caused, he did get all his bills through the Confederate Congress, and never had a veto overridden. He likely functioned much better as a wartime president than a peace time one. He was a diligent administrator to the point of being a micro-manager.

He made some unwise decisions as commander in chief, but many of them - particularly when picking generals for the western theater - he simply had no good option. And these mistakes cannot be said, in fairness, to have changed the course of the war. Perhaps some lives could have been saved if he was willing to admit defeat in the final weeks, and negotiate a surrender. But that was not in his nature.

He was always a proud man, and once decided on a course of action his mind was generally made up for good, no matter the counter-arguments. Before the war his pride led him into numerous vicious public feuds and many near-duels. As president, he commendably moderated this considerably. Although he certainly carried hard feelings, he refused to publicly respond to criticism after the war. And perhaps as reason for this, he does appear to have made a genuine conversion to Christianity during the war.

[Charlie Newfell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book due to others that I read. They did not even ask for a review.

Jefferson Davis is probably the face of the Confederacy to most people, Southerners as well as Northerners. With all of the reading I've done, I guess I never thought much about the man. My only connection was a visit to Beauvoir in Biloxi, his retirement home along the Gulf Coast. We visited there a few weeks before Katrina hit and did significant damage to the house, museum, and grounds.

The author claims that most of what has been written either praises or demonizes the man, and that they aim to be objective. I believe that they have accomplished this. He was a fairly polarizing person, full of inconsistencies. Fighting for States Rights (Southern Rights) he wanted the minority voice heard - but remained an unrepentant slave-holder and racist to the end (unfortunately not uncommon in the times). Fiercely loyal to his friends (to a fault) and blind to his enemies positive attributes, it seemed that everyone was in one camp or the other. Once on the enemy side, there was no coming back.

He was a staunch American patriot - hero of the Mexican War, Cabinet secretary, devoted to several presidents, but assumed the leadership voice of the slave-holding states during the contentious 1850's - and became a leading anti-unionist. He became the natural Chief Executive of the Confederate States, but his value to the "cause" probably would have been better used elsewhere (but perhaps for the good of the USA, it was perfect).

Putting his friends and confidants into high-ranking military positions, he was not a good judge of skills or characters (Robert E. Lee being the exception). Once he was convinced of something - nothing could change his mind. He held onto the South's ultimate path to "victory" after Lee surrendered, planning to meet up with the armies to the West, whom he believed still held out.

He was unrepentant to the end. Never asking for a pardon (he didn't do anything wrong in his mind) and writing his memoirs that gave his point of view late in life.

Overall, a very detailed, but even-handed account that will give you the whole story of one of the least know major characters of the Civil War.

[BookBurner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. This title took almost an entire year to read. Not due to slowness but because it was difficult to process what I read. Jefferson Davis was an interesting figure and the more I read about him, the more I realized I have known him 100 times in 100 different men. The civil war was always told from a particular viewpoint so reading it from this perspective was certainly jarring. Getting an insight into his life, his struggles and shortcomings helps paint a picture of someone who is fallible and human. Jefferson probably had no other choice and saw his propitious war with good odds. It was entertaining to see his command demur long after the war had been lost but the leader wanted to battle on. He was skilled on loquaciousness and as a result 620k people died. He served 720 days or 2 years and Lee was released almost immediately. These facts are most curious and are the ones that will stick with me. Sure I wanted to feel pity as the pallid, acrimonious man falling apart over the pages, but his traits brought about the outcome. He lost so little for someone who cost the nation so much.

These people are the heroes of the past and icons even in today's age causing shifting tides we can't even analyze. But their flaws were as obvious then as they are now. This title gets 5 stars because, I am just out of words. This book published them all. This book was very very detailed. I loved his wife Varina and she sounds like a gem even though she would have wanted me out in the tool-shed. The details around his final capture are also interesting and sound like something that would be a great canard told in loony tunes or some sort of frivolous play. Such destruction and ruin and it ended shamefully for him. But he did stand up and get his dignity back. I can't even dislike or hate the guy. I can only say he was a curiosity for sure but one who needed to be resolved. Lincoln for all his flaws had the means to control those flaws and get himself the outcome he wanted. Jefferson should have seen what he was truly up against but he underestimated the threat he was staring into.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have spent many years reading bios of Abraham Lincoln in order to determine just who this man was, and whether or not he was as great as historians claimed.
As a result, I am undecided. I do believe that Lincoln’s image has been greatly overdone and way to much attention has been given him. He has largely overshadowed other men of his time, such as Stephen Douglas, or Andrew Johnson.
I read this book to get to know who Jefferson Davis was, generally speaking. I wanted to get an image of him, maybe determine if he was just as ‘great’ a man as Lincoln has been made out to be.
Jefferson Davis was in every aspect a great man. He was a war hero, actually engaging in battles in Buena Vista and Monterray. He was a proven leader in men, in battle.
As for being a leader of men as President of the Confederacy, he was not as gifted, as the book claims. So many times he wanted to go to battle but acknowledged that he couldn’t do that as President.
From reading this book, I have received an image of Davis as a gifted leader, who could make decisions and gain support from his colleages.
I have found, though, the book to be too long, too full of details one does not need to know in studying the man. It also contains too many references to suppositions, as if the author is guessing as to the reasons and judgements of most of Davis’ decisions and actions. As a result, I found myself skipping much of the text. Overall it was a good look into the life of Jefferson Davis.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best biographers have a very empathetic connection with their subjects. This author did a wonderful job of bringing JD to life. That obviously has minuses as well as pluses. JD was a complex character, proud & sensitive, loyal to his friends, to a fault. Vindictive to those he considered his enemies, and was far too stubborn to ever imagine he could be wrong about anything. But understanding all this gave me insights into what made the CSA work the way it did, and why the leaders & commanders of the CSA spent more time and energy fighting among themselves than they dedicated to fighting off Lincoln's armies. The book itself is huge, more than 1000 pages, which can be intimidating, and is dense packed full of lots of letters, speeches, etc, and initially led me (I was getting lost in it, and I couldn't see the forest for the trees) to read a more concise biography of JD, which gave me an overview of the times, but no insight into what made JD tick, let alone why he was selected to be the President of the CSA, and the huge impact he had on the USA during the Civil War. I was glad to get back into reading this book, knowing full well I still had more than 40 hours of reading ahead of me. But for someone that is willing to put the time into it, this book is well worth reading.

[Vicki Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to understand Jefferson Davis, this is the book to read. The author dispenses with the usual litany of military battles, giving the reader only what is necessary to provide context, and instead focuses solely on Jefferson Davis, the man. I never understood why Lincoln was the heroic representative of the North but Jefferson Davis did not fill that role for the South. (That fell to Robert E. Lee.) Now I understand why. Jefferson Davis was a complex man. The author does a good job of fairly representing both the flaws and goodness of Jefferson Davis. In addition to better understanding Jefferson Davis, I have a much better understanding of why the South seceded from the Union and why they lost the war.

[Dee Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chirp audio 30 hours 49 in. Narrated by Jeff Riggen Bach (A)

Read the author's preface and the final chapter of this book to get an idea of the writer's style and what he hoped to achieve in this work. I never imagined so much of Jefferson Davis's personal correspondence has been preserved. William C. Davis (of no relation to Jefferson) gives an excellent summation and analysis of the first only President of the Conferate States of America in the last chapter.

Although the author is somewhat repetitive in the second part that deals with the war years,.this book was definitely engaging.

[Rob Lesher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This overview of Davis's life is a good introduction to the full scope of Davis's political and personal life. It does focus a bit on his personal demons which crafted his political life. Reluctant to lead, he found himself acceptable to the radicals who pushed for succession, but the entirety of his career showed how complex and complicated Antebellum America was. Recommend as a starting point at understanding the era.

[Jason Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my journey of Presidents, I felt it important to read about the 1st and only President of the Confederate States. Though repetitive, this biography is extensive and comprehensive.

It's impossible not to compare Davis and Lincoln, and Davis is opposite in every way: impatient, nepotistic, vindictive, and obstinate. Without being the President of the Confederate States, Davis would be a side character in someone else's biography.

[Chris N. Sieler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I it was a very interesting study of someone that I knew next to nothing about. I have read many books from that period of history but never one with this perspective

I it was a very interesting study of someone that I knew next to nothing about. I have read many books from that period of history but never one with this perspective

[Micah Douthit · Rating 3 out of 5]

With so much modern emphasis on Lee and Jackson, it was interesting to read a book solely about the life of Jefferson Davis. William C. Davis (no relation) provides a thorough and balanced biography of the loyal, flawed, prideful, and stubborn man who became famous during one of the darkest times in American history.

[Rick Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tue education on the Confederate leader

I have not read a more comprehensive book that provided a massive amount of information, not commonly found in other books of the same subject. I commend William C. Davis on this tome. It will remain in my library as a reliable reference. As an independent historian, I find it to be a true education on Jefferson Davis’ life.

[Ben Kilgore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have read this book twice. Gives a good insight to how the South saw events leading up to the Civil War. Makes clear how events got out of control and put the Confederacy in a no-win position. If you love history and want to see events through the perspective of the times, this is a good read.

[Melvis The Robot · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a decent, straightforward look at a figure that necessarily generates some controversy. William C. Davis does a decent job of staying on task and trying to examine Davis as objectively as possible.

[Do · Rating 4 out of 5]

A completely different view of the opposition. Very timely, given the problems at Charlottesville .

[Andrew Scholes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew very little about Davis prior to reading this book. It was interesting to read of his work in the country before the war and how he was thought of in the South after the war.

[Graham Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqdVq...

[Chuck Leonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two years ago we travelled to Richmond and took the opportunity to visit Jefferson Davis' "White House," the Museum of the Confederacy and the American Civil War Museum at the Tredegar Iron Works (which I believe have now been consolidated at the Iron Works). We have been interested in the Civil War for many years and very oriented to a Yankee perspective. The "White House", now surrounded by a hospital and, when we were there, the Museum of the Confederacy, where you will find what is hailed as the largest collection of Confederate Battle Flags in the Country … secured for posterity and protected from those who might not respect their historical value. We were surprised during our multiple day stay how few people, native to Richmond, had any knowledge of the rich history that existed in their community. In particular, we were taken aback that, outside of the people that were working the museums, very few people had any awareness of Jefferson Davis. When asked by our 28 year old waiter what sights we had seen in Richmond we told him that we had visited Jefferson Davis's white house, he said, "no his house is called Monticello, and it is at least an hour away from Richmond." As it turned out he told us he "wasn't aware that the Confederacy HAD a President."

Davis' book is a comprehensive, well-researched, analysis of one of the most important figures in the United States during the Civil War. In a time in American life when the temptation is to bury history and wipe clean references to slavery and the injustices that were the very cause of the conflict, it is important that we not forget men like Jefferson Davis. Davis, the author, points out throughout the book how Davis, his subject, was convinced of the validity of his own world view.
Even in defeat, he clung to his views of the Constitution, race relations and most importantly the righteousness of his cause. He was unwilling to concede that the Confederate States had done anything wrong in secession. They did nothing but defend themselves against an invasion ordered by President Lincoln. His view reflects what was apparently a broadly held attitude that ultimately contributed to the failure of reconstruction and continued suppression of black freedmen.

Late in the War when the South was on the ropes and there was much talk and discussion about potentially arming the slave to help fight... Davis made reference to the fact that Southern young men were generally unaccustomed to work and that there was a need to rectify this problem if they were going to survive as a country, emphasizing the bankruptcy of the slave-dependent system.

The author's final chapter is a little hard on a guy that was drafted to lead the Confederacy against a power with double the men, raw materials and money. Had Jeff Davis' Confederate states been on par with the northern states and their resources, there might have been a different outcome to the war.

The author has made an important contribution to the history of the US … hopefully we will have the opportunity to study Jeff Davis for years to come. He was an American, flawed as we all are, and a man of his time, not ours, and he deserves to be judged in context.

[Brenda Kellow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wrong leader for President of the Confederacy

Jefferson Davis was a complex person. In my opinion, he was not a particularly likeable person. He was highly opinionated, narcissistic, and thought that his views on any subject were the right ones. He made many enemies during his political and military career. He was most certainly the wrong person to govern the Confederacy during the Civil War. This book is a good read, however. Learned lots of details I had never read before.