Member Review Shelby Foote

[Philip Leigh]

Today I wanted to watch a 45 minute interview with Shelby Foote, I listened to him for nearly 5 hours. When the first Video was over I was looking for more. Maybe not everything he says is true and maybe he has a southern view to the war ( of course, he was a southener ) but I can't remember ever have enjoyed to listen to someone. I also like James Robertson jr., is there anyone from the north who is engaged in the civil war like these men are (were) ? I did'nt here about anyone

Regarding the reciprocal northern viewpoint, Foote is most often compared to Bruce Catton.

 

[marktwainenjoyer]

Foote himself admits as much. And he explains why he chose not to use footnotes in his narrative.

Perhaps he called them Footenotes

 

[Library Lady]

@Sheltowee , I found a couple more Shelby Foote novels on Hoopla. I'm not familiar with these, but I just added them to my favorites list so I can keep track of them and maybe give them a listen.

Follow Me Down

Audiobook - Follow Me Down

A stark tale of a crime of passion, Follow Me Down tells the story of Luther Eustis, a respectably religious Mississippi farmer who runs off to a deserted island with a young girl and brutally kills her after a three-week idyll. Why did he do it? ...

www.overdrive.com

Love in a Dry Season

LOVE IN A DRY SEASON | Kirkus Reviews

Dirty and dull- but shrewdly contrived and skillfully executed so that- while you loathe practically every character in the book, you believe in them. A sordid triangle,- Amy, a nymphomaniac and a rotter, her blind husband, Jeff, who enjoys contriving reasons for display of jealousy and...

www.kirkusreviews.com

Tournament (Mr. Foote's first novel)

TOURNAMENT | Kirkus Reviews

The rise and fall of Hugh Bart of the Mississippi Delta, this is a life portrait of a man to whom success came smoothly, quickly, though without bringing happiness. He acquired an old plantation, Solitaire, and with it as wife, Florence, of social if impoverished prominence. Early in his career...

www.kirkusreviews.com

September, September (I think this was Mr. Foote's return to fiction after the Civil War trilogy - it is not on any of the 3 digital services to which I have access)

SEPTEMBER, SEPTEMBER | Kirkus Reviews

Twenty-five years after Shiloh, historian Foote (The Civil War: A Narrative) returns to Southern fiction and to his multiple-viewpoint narrative technique, here applied—with mixed results—to a kidnapping in Memphis, September 1957. The nappers are a scabrous white trio: taciturn old-pro Podjo...

www.kirkusreviews.com

 

[Sheltowee]

@Sheltowee , I found a couple more Shelby Foote novels on Hoopla. I'm not familiar with these, but I just added them to my favorites list so I can keep track of them and maybe give them a listen.

Follow Me Down

Audiobook - Follow Me Down

A stark tale of a crime of passion, Follow Me Down tells the story of Luther Eustis, a respectably religious Mississippi farmer who runs off to a deserted island with a young girl and brutally kills her after a three-week idyll. Why did he do it? ...

www.overdrive.com

Love in a Dry Season

LOVE IN A DRY SEASON | Kirkus Reviews

Dirty and dull- but shrewdly contrived and skillfully executed so that- while you loathe practically every character in the book, you believe in them. A sordid triangle,- Amy, a nymphomaniac and a rotter, her blind husband, Jeff, who enjoys contriving reasons for display of jealousy and...

www.kirkusreviews.com

Tournament (Mr. Foote's first novel)

TOURNAMENT | Kirkus Reviews

The rise and fall of Hugh Bart of the Mississippi Delta, this is a life portrait of a man to whom success came smoothly, quickly, though without bringing happiness. He acquired an old plantation, Solitaire, and with it as wife, Florence, of social if impoverished prominence. Early in his career...

www.kirkusreviews.com

September, September (I think this was Mr. Foote's return to fiction after the Civil War trilogy - it is not on any of the 3 digital services to which I have access)

SEPTEMBER, SEPTEMBER | Kirkus Reviews

Twenty-five years after Shiloh, historian Foote (The Civil War: A Narrative) returns to Southern fiction and to his multiple-viewpoint narrative technique, here applied—with mixed results—to a kidnapping in Memphis, September 1957. The nappers are a scabrous white trio: taciturn old-pro Podjo...

www.kirkusreviews.com

Thank you all. Will need to give some these a try

 

[Gandycreek]

Shelby was a great storyteller. I really enjoyed watching his videos too. His trilogy was one of the first books I read, which was a long time ago.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

Did he tell any stories about his time at Camp Shelby??

Not that I recall.

Most of his stories were about his time stationed in Northern Ireland.

Wondering about his Shiloh novel.

Excellent novel !

I read it about 25 years ago and was pleasantly surprised.
I really didn't know what to expect.

But it was entirely different from his famous trilogy.

 

[Belfoured]

Regarding the reciprocal northern viewpoint, Foote is most often compared to Bruce Catton.

Neither was a true or qualified historian; both were excellent writers; and both were up front about their leanings. The only thing I give Catton over Foote was that he at least used end notes so we know what he was relying on. Those end notes show that he used a fair amount of memoirs/recollections by participants that we know today have some reliability issues.

 

[121st PA Vols]

I had that on cassette many years ago and played it on a trip to Gettysburg. He narrated it himself. As I recall his accent turned the Iron Brigade to the On Brigade.

I'd like hearing that! I think my mother, a wonderful southern woman would have run off with him had they met, loving just the sound of his voice which reminded her of home.

 

[Kurtlg]

I'd like hearing that! I think my mother, a wonderful southern woman would have run off with him had they met, loving just the sound of his voice which reminded her of home.

It is available for free on YouTube.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

I'd like hearing that! I think my mother, a wonderful southern woman would have run off with him had they met, loving just the sound of his voice which reminded her of home.

She was not alone.

After the Ken Burns series, he was flooded with letters from women of all ages from around the world.



I never heard him say what his wife thought about it, but she probably laughed.

From what I've heard he was always humble ... but I'm convinced Mr. Foote enjoyed his rejuvenated celebrity status.

 

[JeffBrooks]

James "Bud" Robertson has been mentioned in this thread a bit. I was lucky enough to attend two of his Civil War seminars at Virginia Tech back in the 90s. His ten-part series on the Civil War in Virginia is available on YouTube and is excellent, especially the episode on Jackson's Valley Campaign.

 

[Bentonville]

Those two guys inspired untold numbers of people to develop an interested in the War.

But we have to give credit to Ken Burns.

Ultimately, Burns introduced both of these men to the mainstream American public.

Yes. Though I find his other documentaries lacking. Especially the series on Prohibition. (glug)

 

[Marco 1975]

She was not alone.

After the Ken Burns series, he was flooded with letters from women of all ages from around the world.



I never heard him say what his wife thought about it, but she probably laughed.

From what I've heard he was always humble ... but I'm convinced Mr. Foote enjoyed his rejuvenated celebrity status.

I think he deserves it

 

[Marco 1975]

James "Bud" Robertson has been mentioned in this thread a bit. I was lucky enough to attend two of his Civil War seminars at Virginia Tech back in the 90s. His ten-part series on the Civil War in Virginia is available on YouTube and is excellent, especially the episode on Jackson's Valley Campaign.

My favorite in the series is " bitter April ", my absolute favourite youtube Video. He is on Foote's level, I could listen both for hours. With my next book-order is a Robertson book for sure

 

[Marco 1975]

In the Ken Burns series he quotes William Faulkner, with " every southern boy can imagine he's there ( at Gettysburg) that July 3rd 1863, when the war was'nt lost...
Where is it from?

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

In the Ken Burns series he quotes William Faulkner, with " every southern boy can imagine he's there ( at Gettysburg) that July 3rd 1863, when the war was'nt lost...
Where is it from?

That's one of Foote's famous lines from Burns series.
No doubt that was indeed a Faulkner quote, but I can't cite a Faulkner source.

Perhaps one of our literary experts can shed some light ???

 

[Cato3rd]

In the Ken Burns series he quotes William Faulkner, with " every southern boy can imagine he's there ( at Gettysburg) that July 3rd 1863, when the war was'nt lost...
Where is it from?

That's one of Foote's famous lines from Burns series.
No doubt that was indeed a Faulkner quote, but I can't cite a Faulkner source.

Perhaps one of our literary experts can shed some light ???

It's from 'Intruder in the Dust' (1948)

 

[Marco 1975]

It's from 'Intruder in the Dust' (1948)

Thank you, I will read it

 

[Choatecav]

Thank you, I will read it

You might enjoy this old thread from 2013......

William Faulkner on Pickett's Charge | Gettysburg

"For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it's still not yet two oclock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already...

civilwartalk.com

 

[JulieWeathers]

Today I wanted to watch a 45 minute interview with Shelby Foote, I listened to him for nearly 5 hours. When the first Video was over I was looking for more. Maybe not everything he says is true and maybe he has a southern view to the war ( of course, he was a southener ) but I can't remember ever have enjoyed to listen to someone. I also like James Robertson jr., is there anyone from the north who is engaged in the civil war like these men are (were) ? I did'nt here about anyone

I have his interviews saved in a file. Whenever I just need a little soothing listening, I crank him up. He gets some things wrong, but he was pretty meticulous in research and tried to present an accurate view of the war. So called historians don't even agree on everything.