"I am ... endeavoring to test the lee image for possible distortion and to reappraise Lee himself a well. Such tasks seem sorely needed in Civil War writing. While there have been many biographies of Robert E. Lee, no one has seriously explored the process by which his image has developed since the Civil War." -- From the author's preface.

Lee in his time -- The image molders -- The making of a southern idol -- Birth of a national hero -- Lee and the southern renaissance, 1920-1940 -- The middle-class hero: from freeman to the centennial -- The marble man: a reappraisal.