Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South
Elizabeth Varon
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South
Elizabeth Varon
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
His is a fascinating, but not altogether explicable, life.
It’s hard to see Elizabeth Varon’s new biography of James Longstreet becoming a runaway bestseller, and that’s a shame, because her study of the Confederate general...is insightful, well-executed, and sorely needed.
Longstreet has long deserved a full and balanced biography that treats both his crucial Civil War career and his perceived postwar apostasy in something approaching equal measure. Regrettably, the historian Elizabeth Varon’s Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South is not that book.
A new and impressive biography of James Longstreet, the Confederate general who not only accepted defeat but also its logical aftermath: Reconstruction of a rebellious South forced to reform its racist ways.
Varon...tells Longstreet’s story with authority and insight, and she portrays a man with complicated motives. Some of Longstreet’s postwar stances can be traced to political ambition, fostered by his West Point friendship with Ulysses S. Grant, but for the most part, he was considered a friend to Black citizens and leaders until his death at 82. Varon never quite defines what gave him the perspective to think independently, but she reclaims his reputation and does him justice. Her style is accessible, and her scholarship buttresses the narrative. Readers interested in the Civil War and the horrors of Reconstruction should not miss this book. Comprehensive, readable, and accessible..