While many people believed that the Confederate States of America was doomed to failure from the start because it was essentially an impracticable theory, Robert E. Lee claimed it was not the government but the leaders that failed. In The Enduring Relevance of Robert E. Lee Marshall L. DeRosa uses the American Civil War and the figure of Robert E. Lee to consider the role of political leadership under extremely difficult circumstances and the proper response to those circumstances. DeRosa examines Lee as a politician rather than just a military leader and finds that many of Lee's assertions are still relevant today.