The Civil War/ American Homer: A Narrative (Modern Library)

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He was called William Faulkner's heir apparent for his early fictional work, often grim and gothic tales from his native Mississippi that focused on farmers, gamblers and assorted ne'er-do-wells.

The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote | Goodreads

It’s worth noting that filmmakers not trained as historians, like Ava DuVernay ( Thirteenth) or Marlon Riggs ( Ethnic Notions, Color Adjustment), have been able to produce challenging and accurate documentaries. Indeed, through lenses like theirs, the Civil War narrative would have been much more nuanced and would have encompassed of a wider set of experiences and ideas. PBS’s own highly rated Civil Rights documentary, “Eyes on the Prize ,” aired in 1987, just a few years prior to “The Civil War .” Although written and directed by a variety of people, “Eyes on the Prize” was – and still is – considered good, sound history, and is still being screened in history classes across the U.S. today. Over the years, he liked to tell people he was working on a sprawling novel that he called "Two Gates to the City." The book was nonexistent, but it served as a good red herring. He later said, "People ought not write when they are old."Private Barry Benson, Army of Northern Virginia (1880), quoted by Shelby Foote at the conclusion of Ken Burns’ The Civil War The Civil War: A Narrative, Mine Run to Meridian (40th Anniversaryed.). Alexandria, VA: Time-Life. 2001. ISBN 0-7835-0108-0. Foote accomplishes a great deal with his portraits. He is not just giving us a picture, but a characterization. You get to know the war’s major players on very intimate terms, and this helps to put their decisions – right and wrong – into a deeper context. Shelby Foote (1989). Conversations with Shelby Foote. Univ. Press of Mississippi. pp.37, 46. ISBN 978-0-87805-386-5.

The South’s Jewish Proust - Tablet Magazine

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. If you ever visit Gettysburg, you should read this first, to appreciate how well Foote captured it.

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C. Stuart Chapman (June 20, 2006). Shelby Foote: A Writer's Life. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p.64. ISBN 978-1-57806-932-3. After finishing September, September, Foote resumed work on Two Gates to the City, the novel he had set aside in 1954 to write the Civil War trilogy. The work still gave him trouble and he set it aside once more, in the summer of 1978, to write "Echoes of Shiloh," an article for National Geographic Magazine. By 1981, he had given up on Two Gates altogether, though he told interviewers for years afterward that he continued to work on it. [13] He served on the Naval Academy Advisory Board in the 1980s. [50] The Civil War: A Narrative, Vol. 3: Red River to Appomattox. New York: Vintage Books. 1986. ISBN 0-394-74622-8.

Shelby Foote - Wikipedia

With funding and filming taking place in the late 1980s, “The Civil War” did reflect the time in which it was made. James McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom won the Pulitzer Prize in 1989, and Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels, a best-selling novel from 1974 about the Battle of Gettysburg, still exerted obvious influence. Both of these popular histories were focused almost solely on military history – battles, soldiers, and life on the warfront, and they seemingly guided the general focus of both the editing and production of “The Civil War.” I'm not one for military details, but I found Foote's focus on "mistakes" of southern generals like Hood and Johnson (always forget whether it was Johnson or Johnston--I mean Joseph Johnson) interesting. They seemed to do little right while Sherman did everything right and I sense there was even some affection for him on Foote's part. And I was surprised that he didn't make as much as other histories I've read of the possibility of generals not surrendering and continuing a guerilla war for years. I thought he downplayed Nathan Bedford Forrest too, in that regard but also just as a Southern hero. In 1964 he began Volume 3, Red River to Appomattox, but found himself repeatedly distracted by the ongoing events in the nation and was not able to finish and publish it until 1974. Writing the third volume took as many years as had the first two combined.Tillinghast, Richard, and Shelby Foote. “An Interview with Shelby Foote.” Ploughshares, vol. 9, no. 2/3, 1983, 120 Gettysburg...is described with such meticulous attention to action, terrain, time, and the characters of the various commanders that I understand, at last, what happened in that battle.... Mr. Foote has an acute sense of the relative importance of events and a novelist's skill in directing the reader's attention to the men and the episodes that will influence the course of the whole war, without omitting items which are of momentary interest. His organization of facts could hardly be bettered." — Atlantic I don’t mean to lay all or even most of the blame at Foote’s feet. However, his work has become immortal, and so it has great influence. The historian W.J. Cash observed that no one wants to believe their heroes fought and died for something “so crass and unbeautiful as the preservation of slavery.” When you read Foote, you can continue to maintain that illusion.

Shelby Foote’s Flawed Understanding of Slavery and the Civil War Shelby Foote’s Flawed Understanding of Slavery and the Civil War

Would have benefitted from a "Cast of Players" list so reader could keep straight on who various military figures were, and provide refresher on where one had last read about them. It’s hard to know where to start when discussing Shelby Foote’s three-volume The Civil War: A Narrative. When he began working on the project, he was a novelist of some acclaim, though not widely known. When he finished, he had created a literary Rushmore, not just a book (or rather three books) but a veritable monument. It brought Foote fame and fortune unusual for an authority on the Civil War.

It’s also the most homoerotic thing I’ve read in a long time. Real talk. Every other sentence was like; ‘Lee penetrated deep into Johnson’s rear and exploded’. Here, for a certainty, is one of the great historical narratives of our century, a unique and brilliant achievement, one that must be firmly placed in the ranks of the masters." —Van Allen Bradley, Chicago Daily News Mitchell, Ellen (October 31, 2017). "White House defends Kelly's Civil War remarks". The Hill. Archived from the original on November 1, 2017. Retrieved November 1, 2017 Mr. Foote served in the Army in Europe during World War II. While stationed in Belfast, he was court-martialed for an unauthorized visit to his Irish girlfriend -- later his first wife -- who lived two miles beyond the official military limits.