Author Talk: Elizabeth Varon in conversation with Gordon Jones

Elizabeth Varon is the author of Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South, an authoritative biography 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. After the war, Longstreet 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.

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 rediscovered in the new age of racial reckoning. This is the first biography in decades and the first to give proper attention to Longstreet’s long post-Civil War career.

Online ticket sales will close at 5 p.m. on the day of the event; however, tickets can still be purchased at the door. The event will be hosted at Woodruff Auditorium, located inside McElreath Hall. Doors and cash bar open at 6 p.m. For more information, visit https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/event/elizabeth-varon/