Reviews for William Bradford's Books: Of Plimmoth Plantation and the Printed Word

The average rating for William Bradford's Books: Of Plimmoth Plantation and the Printed Word based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-11-12 00:00:00 Gregory Smith I thought I'd like this book, but I was unprepared for how moving it was. At 14 or 16, Lee was my ideal. Coming back to him after almost a quarter century without any life or death campaigns to my credit and with more awareness of how extraordinary his self-discipline was and how ordinary mine is, this could have been a melancholy experience. But it wasn't. The limited scope of Flood's portrait focusing on Lee's last five years allows him to zoom in intimately for real-life detail and texture. The legendary General comes across as a genuine human being with his own struggles, warmth, and frailty. I even discovered that I haven't developed as far from my adolescent hero as I thought, as my passion to counsel college students is very close to what engaged Lee at his heart in his post-war career. This chapter may be brief and less famous than his battlefield exploits, but the author is convincing in portraying that Lee was passionate about what he did at the tiny college. For instance, as his health weakened, the college trustees knew that they had to place limits on the hours in which students could see Lee because he would not enforce these limits himself. I could very much see myself in this. Lee's health was actually something I learned a lot about in this book. I always pictured him as the perfect physical specimen, handsome and strong until his dying day any particular contrast to my lifelong physical limitations. The author is convinced that Lee suffered an undiagnosed heart attack during the war, and he is painstaking in his description of the pain and weakness Lee experienced throughout his triumphant career as an education administrator. In his last days, one can hardly avoid being moved by the proud and self-possessed former officer barely able to speak but still carrying himself the same comportment and dignity that carried him through testimony before the Radical Republicans who tried to use his unbending testimony to further punish the South.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-12-27 00:00:00 Douglas Freeman A vivid portrait of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's brief post-Civil War life that cuts a sympathetic tone without indulging in Lost Cause mythology (except on the subject of prisoner exchanges). It's fascinating to read about Lee's surprisingly progressive reign as President of Washington College and the culture of devotion surrounding the man in the years following his surrender at Appomattox -- a devotion that would take several wrong turns in the years following his death. There are countless books about the American Civil War that expound on Lee's military genius but if you want to get a clearer sense of his character and legacy, I think reading Flood's book after Jonathan Horn's more recent The Man Who Would Not Be Washington: Robert E. Lee's Civil War and His Decision That Changed American History is a great way to go.