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Book Review of The Lee Girls

The Lee Girls
The Lee Girls
Author: Mary P. Coulling
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Book Type: Hardcover
reviewed on + 84 more book reviews


A chronicle of the somewhat melancholy lives of Robert E. Lee's four daughters, none of whom ever married and one of whom predeceased him. The main reason for reading the book is to gain insight into the life of Confederate gentlewomen. The Lees, unlike Scarlett O'Hara, did not have to scrabble for rotten radishes; financially, they were better off than most Southerners during the war. But I suspect that the loss of their home and the difficulties of transportation and communication were all too typical.

This is not a multiple biography of famous people, because the Lee girls did little to make themselves remembered except on a local level. Rather, it is an interesting glimpse into the world they lived in.