Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South

Written by Elizabeth Varon

Narrated by Fred Sanders

Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography
American Battlefield Trust Prize for History Finalist

A “compelling portrait” (Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize­–winning author) of the controversial Confederate general who later embraced Reconstruction and became an outcast in the South.

It was the most remarkable political about-face in American history. During the Civil War, General James Longstreet fought tenaciously for the Confederacy. He was alongside Lee at Gettysburg (and counseled him not to order the ill-fated attacks on entrenched Union forces there). He won a major Confederate victory at Chickamauga and was seriously wounded during a later battle.

After the war, Longstreet moved to New Orleans, where he dramatically changed course. He supported Black voting and joined the newly elected, integrated postwar government in Louisiana. When white supremacists took up arms to oust that government, Longstreet, leading the interracial state militia, did battle against former Confederates. His defiance ignited a firestorm of controversy, as white Southerners branded him a race traitor and blamed him retroactively for the South’s defeat in the Civil War.

Although he was one of the highest-ranking Confederate generals, Longstreet has never been commemorated with statues or other memorials in the South because of his postwar actions in rejecting the Lost Cause mythology and urging racial reconciliation. He is being discovered in the new age of racial reckoning as “one of the most enduringly relevant voices in American history” (The Wall Street Journal). This is the first authoritative biography in decades and the first that “brilliantly creates the wider context for Longstreet’s career” (The New York Times).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Nov 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9781797166155

Elizabeth Varon

Elizabeth R. Varon is Langbourne M. Williams professor of American history at the University of Virginia and a member of the executive council of UVA’s John L. Nau III Center for Civil War History. Varon’s books include Longstreet; Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew; A Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy; and Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War. Her book, Armies of Deliverance: A New History of the Civil War, won the 2020 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize and was named one of The Wall Street Journal’s best books of 2019.

Reviews for Longstreet

[Sybrina Heine Knorr · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have read other Civil War, general bios, but never one on long street. There was a lot of information that I have never heard before and the book was well written, and I believe fairly present. I recommend it for a good read.

[Gary Strange · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very disappointed she tried to tie 1/6/21 to New Orleans. Great book but 1/6 was nothing more than an escorted capitol tour based on actual footage from inside the capitol. She should spend as much time researching that as she did Longstreet. Maybe a different book if she’s any integrity.
I particularly like enjoyed the battles and was inspired by Booker T Washington. Brilliant man and such an important person to remember. More so than MLK in my opinion. But he was a republican so current press will never tell the truth about anyone with an R by their name. Kills the narrative in their attempt to rewrite history that it’s actually democrats who abused blacks and still are today continuing LBJs agenda.