Hi everyone. Last night I finished the last of Foote's three volumes. Not knowing much about the author, except for remembering him from Ken Burns' documentary and watching a lengthy CSPAN interview,
https://www.c-span.org/video/?165823-1/depth-shelby-foote
… I was curious to know more about him. So of course when you google anyone of note, the first thing that pops up is Wikipedia's bio, so I read that. And I thought it was very unfair and off-point. The bio seems to fault him for failing to write at length about the evils of slavery and the politics of the era. But his 3000 page work was about the battles and men who fought them. He discusses political events only intermittently and as is necessary to move the story along.
The Wikipedia write up also selectively takes short quotes of what Foote said about NB Forrest, the KKK, etc, which I suspect were taken very much out of context to make him appear to be a racist. Yes, he was a Southerner to the bone, and many of his views today are not considered politically correct. But I will say this: I lived in the Mississippi Delta for three years and I got to know a lot of people there. Foote was born and raised there, and I can tell you that for that area, and for the time in which he lived there, Foote was, if anything, rather liberal and open-minded.
Does anyone have an opinion on this subject?
https://www.c-span.org/video/?165823-1/depth-shelby-foote
… I was curious to know more about him. So of course when you google anyone of note, the first thing that pops up is Wikipedia's bio, so I read that. And I thought it was very unfair and off-point. The bio seems to fault him for failing to write at length about the evils of slavery and the politics of the era. But his 3000 page work was about the battles and men who fought them. He discusses political events only intermittently and as is necessary to move the story along.
The Wikipedia write up also selectively takes short quotes of what Foote said about NB Forrest, the KKK, etc, which I suspect were taken very much out of context to make him appear to be a racist. Yes, he was a Southerner to the bone, and many of his views today are not considered politically correct. But I will say this: I lived in the Mississippi Delta for three years and I got to know a lot of people there. Foote was born and raised there, and I can tell you that for that area, and for the time in which he lived there, Foote was, if anything, rather liberal and open-minded.
Does anyone have an opinion on this subject?