Timothy S. Huebner, Madeleine M. McGrady. "Shelby Foote, Memphis, and the Civil War in American Memory". 22

The Civil War: A Narrative - 3 Volume Box Set: Foote, Shelby

When Percy read the final book, he wrote to Foote: “It’s a noble work. I’m still staggered by the size of the achievement. . . . It is The Iliad.” If you ever visit Gettysburg, you should read this first, to appreciate how well Foote captured it. This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( November 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Survivors include his wife, Gwyn Ranier, whom he married in 1956, a daughter from his second marriage, Margaret Foote, and a son from his third marriage, Huger Foote, all of Memphis. Shelby Foote came from a family that had writers in it. He was a cousin of. Walker Percy. They spent time together on the family estate of the Percy's (Walker and Shelby's uncle's home). Foote contributed a lengthy introduction to the 1993 Modern Library edition of Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage (which was published along with "The Veteran", a short story that features the hero of the larger work at the end of his life). In this introduction, Foote recounts the biography of Crane in the same narrative style as Foote's Civil War work.

Civil War’: Ken Burns series turns 30 amid Breonna ‘The Civil War’: Ken Burns series turns 30 amid Breonna

Mr. Foote was a college dropout, a court-martialed Army veteran of World War II, a testy and provocative personality and an acclaimed novelist. Woodward, who wrote a best-selling naval history of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, added that, "In no field is the abdication of the professionals more evident than in military history, the strictly martial, guns-and-battle aspect of war, the most essential aspect." [69] Williams, Wirt. "Shelby Foote's" Civil War:" The Novelist as Humanistic Historian." The Mississippi Quarterly 24.4 (1971): 429–436. Like all Civil War histories, the interesting and exciting parts are at the beginning. By the end of the war all the illusions had been stripped away. The armies of both sides had gone from eager volunteers out for adventure to bitter veterans and unwilling draftees engaged in an industrial war of attrition; from the fifes and drums of the Revolution to the trench warfare of Verdun and Flanders, in four years. The Civil War taught anyone who had eyes to see that if war ever had been bright flags and heroic adventure, (which it hadn't, of course,) it wasn't that now, and it never would be again. In fact, it had become so horrible that we couldn't even lie to ourselves about it any more.

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a b Coates, Ta-Nehisi (June 13, 2011). "The Convenient Suspension of Disbelief". The Atlantic . Retrieved October 26, 2021. Tillinghast, Richard, and Shelby Foote. “An Interview with Shelby Foote.” Ploughshares, vol. 9, no. 2/3, 1983, 120

Civil War: A Narrative: Volume 2: Fredericksburg to The Civil War: A Narrative: Volume 2: Fredericksburg to

First and foremost, The Civil War: A Narrative is a masterpiece of storytelling. Because Foote wrote fiction, it’s tempting to call this novelistic, but that’s far too reductive. Parts of it read like a novel, it is true. Other parts, though, read like Homer or the Bible. The Civil War is the seminal event in American history. In terms of both drama and importance, it is second to none. Shelby Foote manages to capture that sense, while also bringing these past events to vivid life.

In the end the book (and of course the horrific history it accounts) is as tragic and awful as it gets. One last thing I do want to point out is that in my opinion the books have a decidedly Southern tilt to them. As I began to notice this bias in the telling I was at first miffed and disappointed. I am an Ohioan and I can tell you I was pulling for the boys in blue in every battle and skirmish. It grated on me quite a bit throughout large portions of this work and I have only come to reconcile this complaint after a couple weeks of reflection after finishing. The author is from Mississippi and lived his entire life with family stories and histories of the men who fought and led the South. I suspect that this played a part in his decision not to footnote his work. I believe 99% of the details and events he described actually happened, with a bit of Southern legend and lore thrown in. He wrote the book from the aspect of his life, just as I would have if I had attempted the same thing. Anyone who wants to relive the Civil War, as thousands of Americans apparently do, will go through this volume with pleasure.... Years from now, Foote's monumental narrative most likely will continue to be read and remembered as a classic of its kind." — New York Herald Tribune Book Review Daniel Craig Based His 'Knives Out' Accent on a Famous Civil War Historian". Cheatsheet.com. March 2, 2020 . Retrieved October 26, 2021.