A Pulitzer Prize-winning Author History has not been kind to Jefferson Davis. His cause went down in disastrous defeat and left the South impoverished for generations. Had it succeeded, his cause would have torn the nation in two and preserved the institution of slavery. Many consider him an incompetent leader, if not a traitor. Now McPherson shows us that Davis might have been on the wrong side of history, but it is too easy to diminish him because of his cause''s failure.