Customer Reviews

The Civil War: A Narrative: Red River to Appomattox

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Shelby Foote spent his life researching and writing these books, and it shows. This is the most interesting mass of information compiled in a flowing fashion that I believe has been written. It has so much personally revealing biographical information about the persona of the Civil War that one cannot but gain insight as to the causes and results of the fighting. One that has interest in history or warfare cannot afford to miss this journey.

Concluding Foote's narrative history of the American Civil War, the final volume opens with Grant and Sherman's plans for the defeat of the Confederacy and the failure of the Red River campaign. It includes the capture of Atlanta, Sherman's march to the sea, Sheridan's reduction of the Shenandoah Valley, and climaxes with Lee's surrender at Appomattox. It also includes the tragic anticlimaxes of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the capture and imprisonment of Jefferson Davis. As denoument it touches briefly on the Reconstruction and the post-war years of the veterans of the conflict, Jefferson Davis, and other notable figures in the nation's bloodiest conflict. As before, Foote's prose is objective yet compelling, bringing the personalities to vivid life.

No problems with the purchase. Got the correct book on time for a reasonable price.

It's too bad that Foote writes so well (even if he's a bit wordy at times) because that has ensured that these bad books have become one of the most important sources of popular opinion on the Civil War. All three volumes are filled with errors; not just interpretive but serious factual errors as well. Read McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom" instead. Even Bruce Catton's older stuff has stood the test of time better and, in my humble opinion, is far more eloquent