Douglas Southall Freeman. By David E. Johnson. Gretna, La.: Pelican Publishing, 2002. ISBN 1-58980-021-4. Photographs. Illustrations. Appendixes. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. 476. $27.50.
Douglas Southall Freeman was one of the preeminent military historians of the twentieth century. His main works, R. E. Lee and Lee's Lieutenants, have never been out of print. So thorough was his research that these magisterial volumes have become the standard history of the Army of Northern Virginia. Although other biographers have chronicled Lee's life since Freeman, they all stand in the shadow of the master. Likewise, many books have been written about the campaigns in the Eastern Theater, but every author has found that Freeman had already covered the ground. He made his living, however, as a journalist, putting in a full workday editing the Richmond News Leader for over thirty years. During World War I, his editorials analyzing the war in Europe were so thorough that President Woodrow Wilson read them as a source of intelligence. He became famous in World War II by describing the campaigns of the European and Pacific Theaters by drawing on parallels to Lee's Civil War campaigns, and overlaying the terrain of France or the Philippines on Virginia to assist his readers in understanding complex military operations. He kept company with great commanders who valued his prodigious knowledge of warfare: Nimitz, Churchill, Eisenhower, MacArthur, and Marshall.
How did Freeman accomplish so much in one lifetime? As author David
E. Johnson so thoroughly illustrates, he lived a dual life by becoming a
master of time management through an exercise of enormous self-discipline,
making maximum use of what Freeman called "the economy of small idle
time." Everything in his life had its precise place in the day for
concentration: rising, eating, work, gardening, family time, reading
and study, sleeping. This well-regulated life had its costs, and Johnson
examines how those closest to Freeman often paid those costs more heavily
than he did. This book greatly benefits from previously unavailable
family material that reveals the personal side of this exceptional
man. By concentrating on Freeman's literary life, Johnson has provided
military historians with a number of valuable insights into Freeman's
historical method and approach. Johnson allows the reader to observe
the creation in progress, observing how Freeman used sources, made
judgments, and crafted his prose. Johnson's narrative skills make this
experience both fascinating and satisfying. This solid, well-researched,
and engaging biography reveals Freeman as he himself would have wished
to be seen. Johnson is content to remain within that
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boundary and does not offer any broader assessments of Freeman's place
in Southern history. As a Southerner and son of a Confederate veteran,
Freeman's pursuit of a true rendering of history deserves additional
analysis. Nevertheless, Johnson has laid the groundwork for future studies
examining Douglas Southall Freeman's important contributions to shaping
modern Southern identity through the use of history and memory.
Keith Dickson
Virginia Beach, Virginia
