Blanche Ames Ames, Adelbert Ames 1835-1933: General, Senator, Governor, 1st ed – Limited

Description

Blanche Ames Ames faced a difficult task when she wrote the biography of her kinsman with Adelbert Ames, 1835-1933. She billed the story of the New England general and politician as “The story of his life and times and his integrity as a soldier and statesman in the service of the United States of America, throughout the Civil War, and in Mississippi in the years of Reconstruction.” The assertion would have been controversial in 1964 when the memory of Reconstruction was dominated by the “Lost Cause” narrative because Ames was the very devil to Lost Causers.

Ames was one of the youngest Union Army generals and was the last to pass away. This first major biography covers his life as general, “carpetbagger” governor of Mississippi and senator with fine scholarship and fine drama. An appendix features frank letters between the author and John F. Kennedy, who contributed to Ames’ vilification in his Pulitzer Prize-winning Profiles in Courage.

Lightly sunned; musty smell; presentation inscription; else very good. slipcase.

Ames, Blanche. ADELBERT AMES, 1835 – 1933. GENERAL, SENATOR, GOVERNOR… New York: Columbia University Press, 1964. 1st edition, limited to 250 copies, 625p., ft., illus., maps, folding maps, colophon.