Jefferson Davis (World leaders past & present) - Softcover

A disappointing entry in an established series. The focus is on the president of the Confederacy, a West Point graduate and former U. S. Senator who led the South during the Civil War. The book opens ominously, with Davis on his way to Montgomery, Alabama, for his inauguration, aware that the "South's situation was not as bright as he indicated." King then digresses to Davis' youth and early life on a Mississippi plantation, and descends to the use of stereotypes of Southern men: "courtly," "spiritual descendents of medieval knights," and "impulsiveness." Other than that, the coverage of Davis' life before the war is thorough and informative. The chapters on the Civil War itself are just brief overviews, covering the most important moments. In the final chapters, on Davis' post-war life and his importance during the Civil War years to the Southern states, the book again loses impact due to King's editorializing. Although there are several good biographies of Davis available for an adult audience (especially that by Clement Eaton Free Pr, 1977), this is one of the few suitable for a younger audience. --Elizabeth M. Reardon, McCallie School, Chattanooga, TN
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Reviewed with Norma Jean Lutz's Frederick Douglass.

Gr. 3-5. The story of Jefferson Davis is in sharp contrast to that of Frederick Douglass. Douglas snatched education wherever he could find it--under the tutelage of a slave owner's wife or outdoors where he practiced writing with chalk or a stick; Davis, who also had an aptitude for learning, found his information in private academies and, eventually, West Point. These two brief biographies highlight the lives of both leaders, though Frazier's Jefferson Davis could do with a bit more discussion of Southern slavery. Readers would scarcely realize its harshness as they read about Davis' rise to leadership of the Confederacy. Both books feature artwork contemporary to the times, which are identified only by their source. Useful introductions. Denise Wilms
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