Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War - Softcover

T. J. Stiles

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099521172 ISBN 13: 9780099521174

Publisher: Vintage Books USA, 2007

Synopsis

Traditionally, Jesse James has been portrayed as a Wild West bandit, a Robin Hood of sorts. But in this meticulously researched, vividly written account of his life, James emerges as a far more significant figure: a ruthless, purposeful and intensely political man who used his crimes and notoriety to promote the Confederate cause during the bitter decade that followed Appomattox. Raised in a fiercely pro-slavery atmosphere in bitterly divided Missouri, he began at 16 to fight alongside some of the most savage Confederate guerrillas. In the bloodshed and bitterness that followed the Civil War, we see James and his fellow guerrillas, with their gunfights and holdups, become part of the intensely brutal struggle by the White South against the racial egalitarianism and Federal power fostered by Reconstruction.We see how James placed himself squarely in this context with his thirst for attention, his partisan pronouncements and his alliance with a rising ex-Confederate newspaper editor who helped shape James' image for their common purpose. In using violence and the news media on behalf of a political cause, Jesse James was neither a Robin Hood nor a quaint Wild West figure. Rather, as his life played out across the racial divide, the rise of the Klan, and the expansion of the railroads, he was a forerunner of what we have come to call a terrorist. T. J. Stiles has written a memorable biography - a revelation of both the man and his time.

About this title

Review

Probably no American outlaw has attracted more attention--much of it flattering--than Jesse James. This revisionist biography by T.J. Stiles delves into the exciting life James led--"a tale of ambushes, gun battles, and daring raids, of narrow escapes, betrayals, and revenge." Yet it also places James within a specific political context, showing why it was possible for this murderous bandit to emerge as a folk hero among Southern sympathizers following the Civil War (in which he fought as a teenager). James is often grouped with famous frontier criminals like Billy the Kidd and Butch Cassidy, but he's best understood as a Southerner who forged partisan alliances in postwar Missouri and promoted himself as a latter-day Robin Hood. Stiles describes James as "a foul-mouthed killer who hated as fiercely as anyone on the planet" and places his life in the context of "the struggle for--or rather, against--black freedom." Stiles's fundamental point about James is as startling as it is convincing: "In his political consciousness and close alliance with a propagandist and power broker, in his efforts to win media attention with his crimes ... Jesse James was a forerunner of the modern terrorist." Tough words, but also deserved. --John J. Miller

From the Back Cover

"So carefully researched, persuasive, and illuminating that it is likely to reshape permanently our understanding of its subject's life and times." —The New York Times Book Review

"After reading this biography . . . can doubt that the driving force of Jesse James's career was persistent Confederate ideology and loyalty. . . . [Stiles writes] vigorously, eloquently, persuasively." —James M. McPherson, The New York Review of Books

"Intricate, far-reaching. . . . A fascinating revisionist biography.” —TheNew York Times

"In this excellent account, T.J. Stiles shows James to be a southerner, not a westerner; a Confederate, not a cowboy. . . . [He] masterfully strips James bare." —The Economist

“Elegantly rendered and compelling.” —Jay Winik, Washington Post Book World

"Stiles has combed a wealth of contemporary sources and imbues this story with the drama it deserves.” —Eric Foner, Los Angeles Times

“[A] bold, myth-bashing account of the brutal life and times of the outlaw-icon.” —Boston Globe

"Carries the reader scrupulously through James’s violent, violent life. . . . When Stiles, in his subtitle, calls Jesse James the ‘last rebel fo the Civil War; he correctly definies the theme that ruled Jesse’s life." —Larry McMurtry, The New Republic

“A fascinating challnge to old legends.” —The Dallas Morning News

“A dazzling work of American history. . . . James emerges, stripped of his Robin Hood folk mythology, as a more complex and pivotal figure than earlier histories have allowed.” —Sunday Times [London]

“Arresting and powerful.” —The Richmond-Times Dispatch

"This gripping biography of one of the most famous American outlaws clarifies the development of modern violence and proves that the simplistic Jesse James of western movies fall far short of the historical mark." —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Perhaps the finest book ever written about this American legend.” —Salon.com

“The book is quite simply outstanding. . . . [Stiles is] a writer whose allegiance is not with the easy and obvious but with the subtle and definiantly humane.” —Guardian

"As gracefully written as a novel, and convincingly argued throughout, this is biography at its finest." —Bookpage

"Stiles spent four years examining James’s deadliest weapon: his politics. . . . James emerges as no mere robber, but as a proslavery 'terrorist' who remains wildly misunderstood." —Time Out

“In hard-eyed, exhilaratingly physcial language . . . T. J. Stiles takes us beyond the usual interpretation of the outlaw’s notorious life and into a far more challenging understanding of the man.” —The Bloomsbury Review

“Wonderful. . . . An important new biography.” —John Mack Faragher, Raleigh News & Observer

Edition details

• Publisher: Vintage Books USA
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0099521172
• ISBN 13: 9780099521174
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 528