The Lees of Virginia

Nagel offers a generous history of seven generations of the family famous for Confederate General Robert E. Lee, starting from the family's first U.S. settlers, Richard and Anne Lee. Nagel's research is impeccable, and the historical value great. But despite Nagel's excellence, the reading of this saga makes the work difficult to appreciate, let alone finish. Lewis's high, nasal voice is unadorned by inflection, save for an annoying lift of half an octave whenever quotation marks appear in the text. Since Nagel sprinkles these throughout the story, the audible effect distracts significantly. R.P.L. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine

August 1, 1990
Historian Nagel, chronicler of the presidential Adams family ( Descent from Glory ), here presents another splendidly written, poignant, well-researched portrait of a notable clan through approximately 230 years, starting in 1640 with the arrival in Virginia of Richard Lee from Shropshire, England. We're made aware that the considerable contributions of the Lee family to the public, economic, military and intellectual life of the nation have been overshadowed by its most famous figure, Confederate general Robert E. Lee. From among the myriad (and occasionally confusing in their sheer number) members of this close-knit but usually politically feuding clan, several stand out, along with the general--Richard Henry, whose original motion for independence was incorporated by Jefferson into the Declaration of Independence, and headstrong, self-destructive cavalry leader ``Light-Horse Harry.'' If, as Nagel notes, the Lees, like the Adamses, were often temperamentally estranged from their times, there was a marked difference: unlike the coolly detached Adamses, the Lees were passionate for involvement.