The Beleaguered City: The Vicksburg Campaign, December 1862-July 1863 (Modern Library) [Hardcover]

Shelby Foote (Author)

Book Description

Series: Modern Library | Publication Date: August 8, 1995

The companion volume to Stars in Their Courses, this marvelous account of Grant's siege of the Mississippi port of Vicksburg continues Foote's narrative of the great battles of the Civil War--culled from his massive three-volume history--recounting a campaign which Lincoln called "one of the most brilliant in the world."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Novelist Foote's credentials as a Civil War historian are impeccable, and this account of one of the war's pivotal campaigns displays the flair for turning complex events into a story that made The Civil War: A Narrative (Vol. 3, Audio Reviews, LJ 5/15/91) a modern classic. Choosing Foote to narrate his own work might seem like a good notion, considering his success as a charming conversationalist in the popular Ken Burns film The Civil War. Unfortunately, reading from text, even his own, is a craft Foote has not mastered. Despite obvious affection for his subject and the suitability of his gentle Southern drawl for this chronicle of men who, like General McClernand, attempted to forge a path from the bayous to the White House, Foote is too subdued and monotonous to do justice to the vitality of his account. The program is further flawed by distasteful drum cadences that seem more appropriate for a military funeral. The charming photo of a pipe-smoking Foote on the package promises more than it delivers. Not recommended.?Barbara Mann, Adelphi Univ., Garden City, N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

The companion volume to Stars in Their Courses, this marvelous account of Grant's siege of the Mississippi port of Vicksburg continues Foote's narrative of the great battles of the Civil War--culled from his massive three-volume history--recounting a campaign which Lincoln called "one of the most brilliant in the world."

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Modern Library; 1995 Modern Library ed edition (August 8, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679601708
• ISBN-13: 978-0679601708
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #215,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A signpost to even greater riches, January 1, 2002

By 

Eric Krupin (Salt Lake City, UT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Beleaguered City: The Vicksburg Campaign, December 1862-July 1863 (Modern Library) (Hardcover)

I hope my fellow reviewer's amusing description of this slender volume as "Foote Lite" doesn't mislead a potential reader into thinking that "The Beleaguered City" lacks any of the poetry and the power of the three-volume masterwork from which it is excerpted. It simply presents the great historian's work in a more easily digested portion - a consumer service for which I personally am quite grateful.

While the Vicksburg campaign, being (in my simple opinion, anyway) more of coup de grace than a turning point, lacks the supreme drama of the battle at Gettysburg (magnificently presented in Foote's "The Stars In Their Courses", over which I have raved elsewhere), it is an amazing story in its own right. As always, not only does Foote brilliantly limn the military action with stirring prose of an almost Homeric grandeur, he unearths the small human details that bring the long-ago events to life with shuddering poignancy. (i.e. A Union commander preparing to assault a Confederate fort at daybreak reports that from behind the enemy's walls he heard "the prettiest reveille I ever did hear", or General McClernand maintaining his military reserve even as a distraught Southern woman defiantly sings "The Bonnie Blue Flag" right in his face.) He is fortunate, of course, to be studying a period in which even humble footsoldiers, steeped in the cadences of the King James Bible, commanded a musical quality of rhetoric that puts today's orators to shame. (i.e. A disgruntled newspaper editor begs his political friend to convince Lincoln that General Grant is "a jackass in the original package", and a captured Union officer gallantly inquires of his captors, "Is this the Army of the Confederacy for which I have so long and earnestly sought? Then, sirs, I am your guest for the duration.")

A very special treat is the audio edition, read by Foote himself in a smoky Mississippi drawl that could not be better suited to the text. It's akin to hearing the great national epic patiently recited by the Voice of America itself.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine piece of reading, August 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Beleaguered City: The Vicksburg Campaign, December 1862-July 1863 (Modern Library) (Hardcover)

This book is the book to turn to for info on the Vicksburg Campaign. Shelby Foote handles it beautifully. Another thing that is very common with Mr. Foote is the fact that he doesn't give you the dry facts, he gives it to you easily, and with a lot of small extra stories to go along with the big picture. I am reading the whole Civil War a narrative and have already finished the chapter on Vicksburg. My opinion of this book is very high and I advise "everyone" to read this and the whole three volume set.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Foote again at his best., December 17, 2000

By 

C. C. Justice (Easley, SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Beleaguered City: The Vicksburg Campaign, December 1862-July 1863 (Modern Library) (Hardcover)

"The Beleaguered City" is a Modern Library adaptation of part of Foote's masterpiece, "The Civil War." Excerpted for the lay reader, nothing of Foote's careful research or literary skill is lost. While always taking a backseat in American history to Gettysburg (the subject of another Modern Library edition of Foote "Lite"), Vicksburg was arguably the critical campaign of the Civil War -- it permanently severed the Confederacy, guaranteed Federal domination of the nation's premier waterborne trade route, and made the career of U. S. Grant. Foote's history is a delight -- good scholarship and good writing. I recommend it highly to Civil War buffs and casual readers alike. Just like "Stars in Their Courses" however, it suffers from poor maps.