In his sketch "The Dance" Augustus Baldwin Longstreet relates that the meal "consisted of plain fare, but there was a profusion of it." Tracing his career, one might be inclined to relate similarly about Longstreet: a profusion of plain fare. During his seventy-nine year span, Longstreet distinguished himself as lawyer, judge, politician, writer of both expository and creative prose, Methodist minister, and college president. Although he succeeded in all of these endeavors, Longstreet is best remembered for his humorous, often earthy, sketches in Georgia Scenes, Characters, Incidents &c, in the First Half Century of the Republic (1835). Scholars credit these tales with influencing local color and realistic fiction of the later nineteenth century. Writers in subsequent generations, most notably Mark Twain and William Faulkner, looked to the works of Longstreet for some of their inspiration. The Native Georgian, as he would style himself, captured well the essence of life...