An authoritative biography of the controversial Confederate general, who later embraced Reconstruction and became an outcast in the South.
This is the first biography in decades and the first to give proper attention to Longstreet\'s long post-Civil War career..
He is being rediscovered in the new age of racial reckoning.
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.
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.
When white supremacists took up arms to oust that government, Longstreet, leading the interracial state militia, did battle against former Confederates.
He supported Black voting and joined the newly elected, integrated postwar government in Louisiana.
After the war Longstreet moved to New Orleans, where he dramatically changed course.
He won a major Confederate victory at Chickamauga and was seriously wounded during a later battle.
He was alongside Lee at Gettysburg (and counseled him not to order the ill-fated attacks on entrenched Union forces there).
During the Civil War, General James Longstreet fought tenaciously for the Confederacy.
It was the most remarkable political about-face in American history.
An authoritative biography of the controversial Confederate general, who later embraced Reconstruction and became an outcast in the South
