Suggestions for Books on Jefferson Davis

I just finished reading Jefferson Davis, American by William J. Cooper, Jr. and I was not impressed. I found the constant (and sometime long) excerpts from letter and the detailed descriptions of portraits to be boring and distracting. Reading it was like slogging through heavy, deep mud that then solidifies around you. In any event I made it the end, but I feel like I still don’t know much more about the man than I did before I read it.

On the Currently Reading thread I asked about Jefferson Davis and His Generals and it was recommended along with Davis and Lee at War for more on Davis as Commander-in-Chief. However, I am hoping that there is a more readable (at least to me) biography of Jefferson Davis. I originally considered Hudson Strode’s three volume Jefferson Davis biography, but the Boston Public Library doesn’t have the first volume and I also thought that a single volume work would take less time to read. I can get the first volume from other libraries but would like to know if it is worth reading.

Are there other biographies worth reading? What about magazine or journal articles? The BPL has access to JSTOR and I know it has many historical journals available online.

Thanks for all comments and suggestions.

Please excuse my popping in, but I'm a cataloger at a public library. I just finished adding Bloody crimes : the chase for Jefferson Davis and the death pageant for Lincoln's corpse - Swanson, James L. I don't know how good it is, or not. just putting it out there.

Stephie

I just joined the group, so I apologize for the tardiness of the reply. I hope you are still interested in a possible answer to your quest for a readable biography of Jefferson Davis. My personal favorite is probably Jefferson Davis: Man and His Hour by William C. Davis. I thought his writing style made his Davis come more alive than Cooper's. Although there are other older biographies of Davis that are less tome-like than Strode or Cooper's. The one by Clement Eaton in the 1970s comes to mind as another shorter biography which is probably more readable. Hope that helps.

Thanks for the suggestion wfupianoman. I eventually read volumes 2 & 3 of Strode's biography. I enjoyed his writing style, despite his obviously biased POV. I had seen the William C. Davis book at the library and will consider borrowing at, along with the Eaton one. Right now I'm reading the Oxford History of the United States series, but once I'm back to the Civil War I plan to read Michael Burlingame's Abraham Lincoln: A Life and the Davis biographies would be a nice counter-balance.

I salute your attempt to read Burlingame's massive effort on Lincoln. When I placed those two volumes on my bookshelf, I considered the distinct possibility it might collapse from the weight! I think you are correct in that the volumes will illustrate how greatly Lincoln's approach differed from Davis's command style.