Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Lee's Tarnished Lieutenant: James Longstreet and His Place in Southern History by William Garrett Piston ISBN: 0-8203-1229-0 Publisher: University of Georgia Press Pub. Date: March, 1990 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The War Horse as "Scalawag": debunking Lost Cause mythology
Comment: William Piston has written a fine, highly readable, and fair-minded but sympathetic biography of one of the most controversial leaders of the Civil War. While Lee himself held Longstreet in the highest regard and made the dependable Longstreet his senior subordinate and commander of his First Corps in the Army of Northern Virginia, the stubborn South Carolinian found his reputation tarnished after the war by jealous military rivals who disliked Longstreet's politics and resented his criticisms of some of Lee's command decisions.
As a military biography, this work offers a fairly comprehensive and balanced treatment of Longstreet's career that effectively demolishes some of the more unfair criticisms of Longstreet as a commander, and in particular takes apart the myth (that emerged in post-war controversy) that Jackson, not Longstreet, had been the senior commander in whom Lee had placed his most reliance and trust (although for a more critical, but still balanced and highly useful analysis of Longstreet's military record, see Jeffrey Wert's biography of Longstreet).
Reading Piston's book will demonstrate why Lee described Longstreet as "my Old War Horse," and why Longstreet was widely regarded on both sides as one of the very finest -- if not THE finest -- corps commanders of the war. Piston also does a nice job of disentangling the post-war Gettysburg controversy, which emerged out of polemics over Reconstruction politics and the bickering among former Confederate generals anxious to rescue their own reputations while putting Robert E. Lee above any criticism.
Lee, of course, was a great commander, but he never pretended to be perfect, and Longstreet, in daring to criticize certain aspects of Lee's tactical operations, became a threat to a post-war mythology, the cult of Lee, that became so important in building a post-war, Solid Democratic South and white supremacist post-Confederate Southern identity. As Piston demonstrates, the post-war Lost Cause mythology, in deifying the defeated Lee, required a scapegoat, a "Judas", upon whom the blame for defeat and humiliation could be heaped. As both Jackson and Stuart had been killed during the war, and as most western Confederate commanders lacked the prominence to serve this function, Longstreet emerged for unreconstructed Confederates as the bete noir of Southern military history, both for his post-war Republican politics and his criticisms of Lee, his actual war record and relationship with Lee notwithstanding.
And in this post-war Lost Cause narrative, Gettysburg became the critical key or turning point upon which all else hinged, as though the outcome of a thousand campaigns mobilizing millions of men, fought over five years across a vast continent, could be reduced to one afternoon on one bloody field in Pennsylvania, or as though (even if that had been true) Longstreet alone could be blamed for Lee's failure at Gettysburg. It is the politics of Reconstruction and Longstreet's place in that political struggle, that largely shaped what became the dominant Southern narrative about the battle of Gettysburg, and the meaning of that defeat in the larger destruction and humiliation of the Confederacy. Piston's treatment of this issue, and his discussion of the evolution of Lost Cause historiography, is brilliant, and deserves attention not only from those interested in the Civil War and Reconstruction, but from those interested in the relationship between politics, historical memory, the historical record, and the writing of history.
Rating: 5
Summary: First Book for the First Corps
Comment: Piston's book is the first modern account of the first soldier of the Confederacy. Controversial both during and after the war, James Longstreet is one of the most fascinating and forgotten figures in American history. Second in command of the Army of Northern Virginia, Longstreet was the only senior officer who was with that army from the first battle at Manassas to the surrender at Appomattox. He was in command of the most famous attack in American history, Pickett's Charge. His most notable victories included Second Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chickamauga, and the Wilderness. After the war, he did several things considered unpardonable sins by most Southerners, some of whom still cannot forgive him to this day. First, he dared to criticize Robert E. Lee and his conduct of the battle of Gettysburg. Second, he reconciled with his conquerors, became a Republican, and accepted appointive federal offices from four out of the next six presidents of the United States, including President Grant, to whom he was related by marriage. Even worse, he became a Catholic in a staunchly Protestant South. Most important of all, he promoted a doctrine of racial reconciliation that is as relevant today as it was 135 years ago.
Rating: 5
Summary: turning of the tide
Comment: This biography and the one by Jeffrey Wert must be considered as one of the two best works on the life of General James Longstreet. William Piston's work came first so he get the credit for turning the tide for James Longstreet who have long been a goat and villain of the Lost Cause of Confederacy. Piston proves to be a good writer, fair and honest about Longstreet. The controversy that surround this general are treated with a sympathic outlook, realizing that perhaps, Longstreet was too honest and blunt for his own good during the time and period he was alive. Longstreet made many errors during the war and he did many great things as well. His major mistake was telling the south after the war that Lee did the same thing. I think if the reader read both Piston and Wert's biographies, he got Longstreet pretty well covered.
 |
Title: GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET: THE CONFEDERACY'S MOST CONTROVERSIAL SOLDIER by Jeffry D. Wert ISBN: 0671892878 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1994 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
 |
Title: James Longstreet: The Man, the Soldier, the Controversy by R. L. Dinardo, Albert A. Nofi ISBN: 0938289969 Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: April, 1998 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
 |
Title: From Manassas to Appomattox: Memoirs of the Civil War in America by James Longstreet, Jeffry D. Wert ISBN: 0306804646 Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: April, 1992 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
 |
Title: At the Right Hand of Longstreet: Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer by G. Moxley Sorrel, Moxley Sorrell, Peter Carmichael ISBN: 0803292678 Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr Pub. Date: October, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.37 |
 |
Title: Fighting for the Confederacy: The Personal Recollections of General Edward Porter Alexander by Edward Porter Alexander, Gary W. Gallagher ISBN: 0807847224 Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr Pub. Date: March, 1998 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
