"West Point graduate, secretary of war under President Pierce, U.S. senator from Mississippi - how was it that this statesman and patriot came to be president of the Confederacy, leading the struggle to destroy the United States? This is the question at the center of William Cooper's biography of Jefferson Davis. Basing his account on the massive archival record left by Davis and his family and associates, Cooper delves not only into the events of Davis's public and personal life but also into the ideas that shaped and compelled him."--BOOK JACKET.

Some copies are First Vintage Civil War Library paperback edition, 822 p., 21 cm., 2001.

Prologue: "The Saddest Day of My Life" -- "There My Memories Begin" -- "Put Away the Grog" -- "Ever Ready to Render My Best Services" -- "Located in a Very Retired Place" -- "It Was What I Wished" -- "It May Be That I Will Return with a Reputation" -- "At Present All Is Uncertainty" -- "The Cloud Which Had Collected" -- "I ... Have a Field of Usefulness" -- "The Darkest Hour" -- "Our Cause Is Just and Holy" -- "The Noblest Cause in Which Man Can Be Engaged" -- "Lift Men Above All Personal Considerations" -- "We Are Fighting for Existence" -- "The Issue Is ... Very Painful for Me to Meet" -- "I Have Not Sunk Under My Trials" -- "These Days of Our Hard Fortune" -- "The Duty of Doing Justice to the Cause" -- "There Is Much Preparation" -- Epilogue: "Esto Perpetua" -- .