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Film, Video A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters

Event video

Transcript: TEXT

About this Item

Title

  • A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters

Summary

  • Robert E. Lee was a more complex and contradictory man than his iconic image suggests. In her new biography, historian Elizabeth Brown Pryor presents dozens of previously unpublished letters to draw a new portrait of Lee's beliefs, his military ability and the times he lived in. Pryor discussed and signed "Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters," in a program sponsored by the Center for the Book. Pryor uses Lee's newly discovered family letters as departure points for a series of surprising "historical excursions," telling his life story through an innovative blend of analysis, historiography and rich period detail. She looks into Lee's troubled childhood, the hardening of his anti-abolitionist views, his decision to join the South, his celebrated but controversial battlefield performance and his final wrenching years. The author also delves into lesser-known aspects of Lee's life, such as his pioneering role in engineering science, the fluctuation in his religious beliefs and the way he shaped his own leadership style.

Names

  • Library of Congress
  • Library of Congress. Center for the Book, sponsoring body

Created / Published

  • Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, 2007-06-12.

Headings

  • -  African American History
  • -  Literature
  • -  Biography, History
  • -  Education

Notes

  • -  Classification: Education.
  • -  Classification: General Works.
  • -  Classification: History: America.
  • -  Elizabeth Brown Pryor.
  • -  Recorded on 2007-06-12.
  • -  Researchers.
  • -  Teachers.

Medium

  • 1 online resource

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021687847

Online Format

  • video
  • image
  • online text

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Library Of Congress, and Sponsoring Body Library Of Congress. Center For The Book. A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, -06-12, 2007. Video. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021687847/.

APA citation style:

Library Of Congress & Library Of Congress. Center For The Book, S. B. (2007) A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, -06-12. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021687847/.

MLA citation style:

Library Of Congress, and Sponsoring Body Library Of Congress. Center For The Book. A Portrait of Robert E. Lee Through His Private Letters. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, -06-12, 2007. Video. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021687847/>.