Robert E. Lee

Trudeau's admiring biography concentrates on Civil War engagements from Lee's point of view, providing lessons in leadership through the vehicle of military history. Tom Weiner has a strong, appealing voice, and he reads crisply but too rapidly. Some of the descriptions of troop movements, interactions among officers, and battles are complex, especially without maps, but Weiner hardly stops for breath, as if reporting live from the front. Some lines call for a slower cadence, a different emotional weight, time for reflection, but Weiner seldom varies the pace. It's a strong, brisk performance, but more nuance, variety, and reflection on the text would have served the book and the listener better. W.M. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine