Jefferson Davis is one of the most complex and controversial figures in American political history (and the man whom Oscar Wilde wanted to meet more than anyone when he made his tour of the United States). Elected president of the Confederacy and later accused of participating in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, he is a source of ongoing dissension between northerners and southerners. This volume, the first of its kind, is a selected collection of his writings culled in large part from the authoritative Papers of Jefferson Davis, a multivolume edition of his letters and speeches...

The history of the Government of the Southern Slave States from the perspective of the one and only Confederate President.

Jefferson Davis was the first and last President of the Confederacy. His two volume history of the controversy, conflict, and resolution is unique. To understand America's Civil War, you have to understand this man.