A Confederate General in the Ottoman Capital | Elizabeth Varon

E581 | After the US Civil War, some leaders of the defeated Confederacy followed unusual trajectories, perhaps none more so than James Longstreet, who joined the Republican party and became a proponent of Southern Reconstruction and for a brief period, the Minister Resident to the Ottoman Empire. In this episode, we talk to Elizabeth Varon, author of a new biography of Longstreet, about the rebel-turned-diplomat's brief tenure in the Ottoman capital during the early years of Sultan Abdul Hamid II's reign, and we discuss what Longstreet's experiences reveal about America on the world stage in the shadow of the Civil War and Reconstruction. We also discuss Prof. Varon's personal connection to post-Ottoman Istanbul, as well as her new research about Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, who followed in Longstreet's footsteps some years later on a humanitarian mission to the Ottoman Armenians in Anatolia. More at https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2026/03/longstreet.html Elizabeth R. Varon is Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American History at the University of Virginia. She is the author of six books, including Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South (Simon & Schuster, 2023), which was reviewed in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Atlantic. Varon's current project is a biography of humanitarian Clara Barton. Chris Gratien is Associate Professor of History at University of Virginia, where he teaches classes on global environmental history and the Middle East. His first book, The Unsettled Plain: An Environmental History of the Late Ottoman Frontier, explores the social and environmental transformation of the Adana region of Southern Turkey during the 19th and 20th century. CREDITS Episode No. 581 Release Date: 3 March 2026 Recording Location: University of Virginia Sound production by Chris Gratien Music: Safiye Ayla - Katibim; Azize Tozem and Sari Recep - İstanbul'dan Ayva Da Gelir Nar Gelir; Kara Güneş - İstanbul Bibliography courtesy of Elizabeth Varon at https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2026/03/longstreet.html