Perhaps no book did more to shape the style and subject matter of Southwestern humor than Longstreet's collection of sketches, Georgia Scenes, which went through eleven editions between 1835 and 1897. Edgar Allan Poe was one of the first readers to identify Longstreet's particular contribution to American letters. He praised the anonymous author (the 1835 edition was attributed to a "Native Georgian") for his "penetrating understanding of character in general, and of Southern character in particular." Poe singled out for special attention the sketch "The Debating Society," a spoof of legalese in which a tough-minded president cuts through the pompous verbiage of two debaters by literally wielding a knife: "'Gentlemen,' said he, 'I do not understand the subject. This, 'continued he (pulling out his knife, and pointing to the silvered or cross side of it), 'is "Internal Suggestions. " And this' (pointing to the other, or pile side) 'is "Bias of...