In this magnificent family saga, Venna Chee Wan Lee brings to life the extraordinary story of four generations of Chinese ancestors. Her search for the family history, led to the family's lost Zong Pu (clan histories), which spanned thirty-two generations and more than three thousand years This book is Author's quest to preserve a lineage's history for a western audience. The family history begins with an intimate personal portrait of her great-grandmother, a young widow and a devout Buddhist, whose Christian son married three wives, built a business and served as the patriarch of four families during a time of extreme cultural and political change. Lee vividly brings to life a colorful cast of relatives who lived through the turbulent years of recent Chinese history, as China evolved from a farming feudal system to a modern society.
General Robert E. Lee is well known as a major figure in the Civil War. However, by removing Lee from the delimiting frame of the Civil War and placing him in the context of the Republic's total history, Dowdey shows the "eternal relevance" of this tragic figure to the American heritage. With access to hundreds of personal letters, Dowdey brings fresh insights into Lee's background and personal relationships and examines the factors which made Lee that rare specimen, “a complete person.” In tracing Lee's reluctant involvement in the sectional conflict, Dowdey shows that he was essentially a peacemaker, very advanced in his disbelief in war as a resolution. Lee had never led troops in combat until suddenly given command of a demoralized, hodgepodge force under siege from McClellan in front of Richmond. In a detailed study of Lee's growth in the mastery of the techniques of war, he shows his early mistakes, the nature of his seemingly intuitive powers, the limitations imposed by his personal character and physical decline, and the effect of this character on the men with whom he created a legendary army. It was after the fighting was over that Dowdey believes Lee made his most significant and neglected achievement. As a symbol of the defeated people, he rose above all hostilities and, in the wreckage of his own fortunes, advocated rebuilding a New South, for which he set the example with his progressive program in education. The essence of Lee's tragedy was the futility of his efforts toward the harmonious restoration of the Republic with the dissensions of the past forgotten. Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
This historical novel will travel through the colonial days of the south beginning in 1699 and culminating in 1783 with the struggles of the Revolution. Three U. S. Presidents have ties to the historical characters in this book George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln. Mary Ball, mother of the 1st president, is one of the main personalities highlighted. Nancy Hanks, mother of the 16th president, was probably the illegitimate daughter of one of this books characters. Thomas Jefferson and his family play a vital role in this historical novel. The main characters of this book will be lesser known but just as significant. These will be the Peacheys, the Glascocks, the Griffins, the Bertrands, the Balls, the McCartys, the Carters, and the Tayloes - all popular names in the eighteenth century on the Northern Neck of Virginia. Others featured are the Walkers and the Gilmers, especially Dr. Thomas Walker, who first discovered Kentucky for the white man. His close ties to President Thomas Jefferson helped promote the formation of the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the United States. Rev. St. John Shropshire and his descendants are highlighted with their ties to the Peach family of South Carolina. This narrative starts during the early development of the Northern Neck of Virginia on the banks of the Rappahannock. With this as its beginning, the book takes its readers back to the immigrant ancestors of its main characters and then carries them forward to future generations. Many of the personalities in this book will be portrayed as they helped fight for the independence of the United States from England and formulate the new nation.
