A review of Shelby Foote’s “The Civil War a Narrative”

      Shelby Foote wrote this chronicle of the four year Civil War, over a course of twenty years, spanning three volumes and 2,934 pages.  Purchased at full retail price as a birthday present from my beloved wife, this collection represents the most expensive piece of my personal history library.  Shelby Foote’s name may be familiar to anyone who watched the Ken Burns Civil War documentary that was on PBS in the early 1990s.  He was the white haired, bearded historian who appeared throughout the documentary.

      I read these books from May to September of 2009.  I do not consider it time wasted.  Born in Greenville Mississippi, by the time he wrote this narrative, Foote was an accomplished novelist, and a veteran of World War II.  I found these books to be rich and flavorful, and written with a style that is easily digestible.  As someone who enjoys consumption of American Civil War history I found these books to be an incredibly powerful and romantic read. 

      As a critical and discerning historian however, there are some issues with these books.  In an effort to maintain the power of his narrative Foote admittedly eschews footnotes.  His presentation of a bibliography at the back of each volume is sloppy at best.  His listing of a bibliography in paragraph form is reminiscent of an academy awards acceptance speech, where the recipient thanks all the little people. 

     All of this makes it difficult for a serious historian to accept some of Foote’s assertions at face value, especially with regards to some of the anecdotes about Nathan Bedford Forrest.  If everything Foote claimed about Forrest is true, then the opposing Union commander need only have some kryptonite to defeat him.

      I do not doubt that Foote had a great love for Civil War history, and nothing but the most tremendous respect for each combatant involved, from the respective commanders in chief down to the drummer boys.  Foote was looking for the perfect marriage of history and novel, but when the two were at odds he seems to choose to err on the side of novel.  In trying to be both an historian and novelist, Foote forgets the first rule for the historian. Cite your sources.  I don’t think Foote was very successful at artistically creating a serious work of history, but rather he was very successful at creating a very historically accurate piece of art.

     A few instances aside, Foote does an admirable job remaining objective between Union and Confederate viewpoints, although he does not pay much consideration to the institution of slavery as a cause for the war, rather he puts the emphasis on secession.  It is true that without secession there is no war, but without slavery there would have been no secession, in my opinion. 

     Foote starts the narrative by establishing Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis as if they were opponents in a prize fight, as if to simplify the war down to a contest between these two men.  While I agree that there is a sort of romantic quality to that take, that this continental conflict, a thousand mile front was essentially a fight between two men, the historian in me bristles at any ideas that approach a view that oversimplifies the war.

      Foote did ask in the bibliographical note of the first volume to interpret any perceived pride in the Confederate cause as “no more, in the end, than the average American’s normal sympathy for the underdog in a fight.”  I will try to do this even if Shelby Foote is interred in the family plot of Nathan Bedford Forrest.

      Foote uses a chronological format in his books, which is as good a format as any when dealing with a subject with as many layers of political and military intrigue as the Civil War.  The War militarily takes place over three major theaters.  This necessitated a departure from a pure chronological format in early July, 1863 when all three theaters were reaching a climax of a sort.  Important events were taking place simultaneously at Vicksburg, Mississippi; Tullahoma, Tennessee; and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

     While these books do contain some maps, I recommend that the reader keep an atlas of the Civil War nearby as a companion piece, especially if they are unfamiliar with the subject matter.  I would recommend these books for someone who reads history as a hobby, or for a serious historian who is trying to reconnect with what made history fun for them in the first place.  The three volumes, “Fort Sumter to Perryville”, “Fredericksburg to Meridian”, and “Red River to Appomattox” retail at 25 dollars a piece.  There are several copies available on the secondary market, at used book stores and at vendor booths at Civil War reenactments, and antique shows.  I have also not yet been in a public library that did not have at least one copy of the set.

-Michael B. Terry

                                            Bibliography

Foote, Shelby, The Civil War A Narrative Fort Sumter to Perryville. New York: Random

     House, 1958.

Foote, Shelby, The Civil War A Narrative Fredericksburg to Meridian. New York:

     Random House, 1963.

Foote, Shelby, The Civil War A Narrative Red River to Appomattox. New York: Random

     House, 1974.