An amazing narrative

[khaosworks]

Since I got back from Georgia, I've started the most daunting project of reading Shelby Foote's 3000 page, 3 volume work, The Civil War: A Narrative. It's an incredibly lyrical piece of work, historical accuracy of it aside. I've heard that I shouldn't rely on it for historical accuracy, and I can tell bits of it are probably anecdotal in origin, but the main thrust of the story - to this poor amateur historian, at least - seem to be in order. I'm halfway through the first volume at the moment, and the way Foote manages to evoke the sheer scope of the war, from executive orders to the soldiers in the field, is breathtaking. Well worth picking up - and if you're not a fan of the Civil War, you will be.

An example, from his account of the Battle of Pea Ridge, the thoughts of Brigadier General Samuel R. Curtis after the battle:

"Spring had come to upland Arkansas at last, and it put him in mind of the ones he had known in his Ohio boyhood. The day after the battle a warm rain fell, washing away the bloodstains, but as the burial squads went about their work the air was tainted with decay. Curtis moved his headquarters off a ways, once more to enjoy the singing birds as he sat at a camp table, writing home. "Silent and sad" were the words he used to describe the present scene of recent conflict. "The vulture and the wolf have now communion, and the dead, friends and foes, sleep in the same lonely grave." So he wrote, this highly practical and methodical engineer. Looking up at the tree-fledged ridge with its gray outcroppings of granite, he added he hoped it would serve hereafter as a monument to perpetuate the memory of those who had fallen at its base."

And so it did. Of course, someday I'll be going there.

Comments

[dietbubba.livejournal.com]

Just about everytime I go into a book store I see the Foote books and I think to myself "I should get the first one and start it." But for some reason I never do. Maybe one of these days.

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

It's hard going at first, because he starts with biographies of Davis and Lincoln, and parallels their lives leading up to the secession crisis and their respective inaugurations, but after the first chapter, and after First Manassas, the narrative just takes off.

[dietbubba.livejournal.com]

Then I will move it up the reading list.

[sumtt.livejournal.com]

Way to go, dude. Good to know that you're getting some mileage out of the book.

I bought "Book 1: Fort Sumter to Perryville" after watching "The Killer Angels" and catching a bit of the Civil War TV documentary.

Unfortunately, I got bogged down in the first few pages and couldn't carry on any further.

Enjoy!