The Civil War: A Narrative - 3 Volume Box Set

You know those hypothetical questions you get asked in adult board games (i.e. If you were stranded on a island what CD/book would you like to have)? No doubt about it, Shelby Foote's masterpiece trilogy would be resting beside my palm leaf makeshift bed as I sleep and I would turn those pages until they whithered away. The reason I used the above quote is the reading has been so "sweet" and has hooked me into the ACW. I will go on to read dozens of more books on people, places, battles, politics. The "sorrow" lies in the fact that the journey has come to an end. I'm an avid reader, so it took me about 2 months to finish the approximate 3000 pages. I look forward to reading it again in a few years, when I want a little refresher. I suspect that a work like this will probably take most people several months, if not years to finish. In any case, it's well worth it. The amount of detail is perfect. The major engagements get full treatment, down to brigade and in some cases regimental levels. But no stone is left unturned. Minor skirmishes and rear guard activity are also noted. The west, the east, the naval battles. The focus is primarily military, however, there is a nice dose of political, social, biographical and cultural topics. Tons of anecdotes and "I did not know that" type information. There is also a good balance of tactical vs. down in the ditch accounts. Very good maps. Just as the details of troop movements start to get a bit hazey, you turn the page to find a perfect map. I would have like to seen just a few more, but there are plenty and all well done. There are a few comments from other reviewers about Foote's allegiance to the South and leaving out atrocities and such. This is hogwash. I knew very little of the ACW before reading these volumes and I feel that his treatment was very fair to both sides. A poor leader is critized, whether he wore blue or gray/butternut. Just as a good leader is praised. Grierson's raid during Vicksburg gets as many high marks as any of Forrest's. Many others have noted all the highlights, much more articulated than I ever could, so I'll refer you to those reviews. Simply put, this book is a must read to begin or expand your knowledge of the ACW. It took 20 years for Foote to finish, and literally every word was well thought out. It ranks in many "top 100" lists for best nonfiction of the 1900's.

Love this well-written, authoritative book set on the Civil War. Very thorough descriptions of the personalities, the specifics of the results and the locations of the battles.

I have yet to finish reading this marathon work, but I can honestly say that it is the greatest work of historical literature that I have yet read. Firstly, the author shows an encyclopaedic grasp of the facts of history together with an intuitive and almost uncanny sense of their significance in relation to the unfolding story. Secondly, his literary skills give even his vast factual knowledge a run for their money. This is no mere recitative of dry facts, but a perfectly paced and dramatically structured narrative, in which different literary genres such as biography and story-telling are seamlessly interwoven. Thirdly, he has a rare gift for being judgmental without being partisan. He is not afraid to find good and bad on either side of the conflict; in fact he is not even afraid to find a cocktail of good and bad in individuals whom history slots entirely into one moral category or the other. Fourthly (and this is more subjective), this is so enjoyable as a read. The author's own exuberant fascination with the period, and the intensity of his admiration or scorn for the various personages involved on either side of the conflict, are communicated to the reader. The three volumes of this `magnum opus' are available separately, but this three-volume boxed edition is the way to own it. I don't know if the three books were published sequentially or simultaneously, but in a very real sense we are talking about a single coherent work in three volumes. If you know nothing at all about the Civil War, you could find this sheer size of this work a bit daunting; more seriously, you could lose the bigger picture in the sheer wealth of fascinating detail. In that case, James McPherson's extraordinarily brilliant overview ("The Battle Cry of Freedom") could be a better place to start. However, if you want something really substantial to keep you engrossed on that coast-to-coast wagon-train journey, this is unreservedly recommended for beginner or Civil War enthusiast alike.

I read all three over 10 days. First and second book are very good, but the third is (in my opinion) the better. I couldn't put the third book down - read all 1100 pages in three nights.Very few minor irritants, not worth mentioning. If you've been to any of the large Nat'l Civil War parks then you will see those places in your minds eye when reading these. Lots of humor, some of it hidden. Not so much talk of the 'old men ailment' as in 'The Killer Angels.' Mr Foote has made the entire Civil War readable. Lots of action here near Vicksburg, nearby Texas, and north in Arkansas and Missouri, more than I've seen in many other books. Very much detailed narratives about the Naval war on both sides. There is a host of background written on the lesser known actors here, both in Richmond and in Washington, although Joshua Chamberlain merits only one sentence throughout the three volumes. Knowing this book has a huge number of reviews already, I'll add some on the quality of this set. Box and books are well put together and should last long enough for you to donate them to your grandkids. Many more maps than the ads suggest. The maps on the front and read end pieces are excellent and should be the first thing you read in each volume. A dictionary of military terms would be a good thing to have nearby. I'm still trying to find the meaning of several military terms used in all three books. Go ahead and get the set. Winter's coming and those long evenings in a cozy chair is where you want to read these.

Excellent.

I was recently exchanging e-mails with a history buff friend and the conversation drifted to Civil War histories. This left to search Amazon for Civil War histories and I ran across Shelby Foote's Civil War Narrative - WITH AMERICAN HOMER. I capitalize American Homer because its a must read as prelude to the books. It is a collection of essays about Mr. Foote, the Narrative, and the times and the South he lived in. I ended up giving my history buff friend a synopsis of it. He loved it, and since he's already had a set for years, we both did a search to find American Homer. We believe this is only source. and to paraphrase him: If one can understand the author's background, how he was raised, and the times he lived in, his writing makes a lot more sense. You certainly will get a lot richer appreciation of his work. And this is how it is with American Homer. I have given him the publisher and he'll be sending a letter to see if he can get a copy. Now to Civil War Narrative - Shelby Foote was a novelist and poet, not a historian when he got the commission for this book (book is what it was then) He soon found after starting that the size they wanted (200K words) simply couldn't be done - it turned out to be 1.5 million words. I have read the first chapter and it is a highly accurate account in more a novelist feel than the standard date place event of histories. He also is a southern which lends to the feel of the southern cause. If Ken Burn's Civil War documentary has this feel (which it does) it's because he worked closely on it with Mr. Foote. I can not recomment this Trilogy enough - Buy this set with American Homer and read it first.

Shelby Foote was one of the real experts on the civil war. I have really enjoyed what I have read so far.

Foote is a novelist first, and the skill of his narration bears this out. Although the reader knows (or should know) what is about to take place (after all, this is the most written about war in literature), the author presents the events as a first rate novelist presents his plot twists and turns - with such subtlety that the reader is somewhat surprised when he comes face to face with such events as the assassination of Lincoln. And one has to remind oneself that the presidents, politicians, generals, officers and men of both sides are not literary creations but real men; they come alive to the reader as the best constructed fictional character comes alive to the novel reader. Being born and raised in Louisiana, I came to the book with some built-in biases, particularly against some of the Union generals like Sherman and Sheridan while harboring almost deistic sentiments toward Lee, Longstreet and Stonewall Jackson. Foote shatters these biases. By using primary evidence such as personal letters, public speeches and contemporary observations these men shed their auras and become merely flesh and blood doing what they had to do given the exigencies of the war. I gained a begrudging respect for Sherman who always knew what war was about and knew best how to go about winning one. I was shown another side of Stonewall as a cruel, lemon sucking, self-appointed messenger of God who could sincerely give prayerful thanks for allowing him to slaughter the enemy. Sheridan I still do not like. Also gratifying was the attention that Foote gave to the Red River campaign and the exploits of General Richard Taylor, a part of the war that is often given scant attention or ignored all together by other historians. That it took Foote "five times longer to write the war than the participants took to fight it" only matures his work, as age matures a first rate single malt Scotch whisky. During the time of Foote's labor, several historical events occurred that reflected the actions of the period of which he was writing, some one hundred years earlier: the assassination of a president; the beginning and end of another war; a continuation of the civil rights struggle so intimately associated with the Civil War and the assassination of its leader; and a period of uncertainty as manifested by Watergate. These re-occurrences surely had its impact on Foote (he makes parenthetical references to these contemporary events throughout the book) and tempered his efforts to write the definitive book on a definitive period of American history. There has been much comment regarding Foote's seeming disregard for the principles of academic writing; i.e., the lack of footnotes or other forms of citation, and the lack of a comprehensive bibliography. He is compared unfavorably to other Civil War historians who lavish much time on such niceties with the result that Foote's extensive labor has been somewhat castigated. Come now! Are narrative histories by Herodotus, Livy, Thucydides and even Homer any less valuable because the emphasis is on narration rather than on a slavish adherence to the rules of academia? Foote, in his bibliographical notes, remarks in summation, "Farwel my book and my devocion', my rock and my companion through two decades," and it was with the same mixed feelings of reluctance and relief that I turned the last of almost three thousand pages of these three volumes, my own companion for countless mornings and evenings.

Aproveché el descuento que tenía y compré este box set en $630 (normalmente se vende en más de $2000). Es una edición en pasta dura de The Civil War de Shelby Foote, una historia narrativa de la guerra civil de Estados Unidos. El autor trabajó arduamente por décadas en esta obra y la consideraba su intento de realizar un Ilíada para su país. Incluye además un delgado libro de ensayos.

Splendidworkofhistoryandliterature.classicinitsownright.

Shelby Foote is without doubt one of the best wordsmiths I have ever read. I read the 3 volumes of his Civil War almost 25 years ago, and have returned to them this year. I am about to finish volume 3, with regret. He will be a very hard act to follow, when it comes to choosing my next reading.

I'm British, and this is hands down the best history of the US civil war that I have read. This is a narrative account of the military progress of the war, including incredibly detailed insights into the main figures involved as well as huge amounts of anecdotal information about the officers and men on both sides. Highly readable, I couldn't put it down! Please note, this is not a social or political history of the reasons for war, beyond the essential facts of secession and the abolition movement. It is primarily a military narrative that paints detailed and convincing portraits of the key participants in the war, their manoeuvres and materiel, and the occasions on which they met in battle and butchered each other. There has been some (somewhat justified) criticism of the work as it does not talk about - for instance - important black figures of the abolition movement: a correct observation, but the book is not about abolition, it's about war - don't expect long discussions about the 'right to secede' or the 'moral duty to abolish slavery' by force of war. This is a book about the war itself; an account of the many thousands of 19th century Americans who took up arms and slaughtered each other in unprecedented numbers. If you are looking for a detailed political and social history of the era regarding slavery and the progress of the abolition movement; the rights and wrongs of secession (or federal force); or an account of the war in the context of contemporary discussions about white supremacy in the US or the roots of 'systemic racism' in the transatlantic slave trade - then you will be disappointed. This book does not analyse the reasons for war in order to justify a side, it comes from a long tradition of written history that assumes you have a moral compass of your own and don't need one spelled out. However, for a hugely informative and entertaining account of the courage & cowardice, sacrifice & selfishness, benevolence & butchery, moral crusade & madness of this historical example of killing on an industrial scale, then read this book, and re-read it. It is exciting and melancholy, inspiring and depressing: a superb achievement of scholarship and a fantastic read. Such as it is, I don't think it will ever be equalled.

Um descrição fenomenal dessa epopéia americana. Os retratos dos personagens são meticulosos e a ambientação transporta o leitor para época. Ainda não terminei, mas o que vi já vale cada centavo dessa fantástica e imperdível edição.