Unfavorable Treatment of Robert E. Lee

Among the most important goals of any historian, or history writer, ought to be to present information about events and individuals without any slant or bias. How do historians accomplish this feat? By sticking to their sources, and developing their argument without trying to steer those sources toward their own personal viewpoints. Whether or not authors and historians have done as much for Robert E. Lee, who served as a Confederate General in the United States Civil War is under consideration in this discussion. Two prominent works, Ordeal by Fire by James M. McPherson and Lee Considered by Alan T. Nolan will serve as the basis for determining whether or not Lee was treated fairly in the history books. By the definition of fairness being an unbiased presentation of sources, Nolan did not seem to be as just in his delivery of Lee, painting...
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