The Civil War: A Narrative

[dreammachine]

I love reading and hearing about all military war/stories from just about any time period, but I will have to say that the "THREE VOLUME SET - THAT SHELBY FOOTE - ABOUT THE CIVIL WAR - WHICH TOOK HIM TWENTY YEARS TO COMPLETE" is without a doubt the greatest collection of material for someone to read that wants to know what really happened during the "Late War Of Northern Aggression or War Between The States" as I prefer to call it.  Mr. Shelby Foote writes these three volumes (Being A True Southerner) from a very independent viewpoint - neither taking a Southern Side or Union Side in these three great books.  I really thought I knew a lot about the "War Between The States" until I read these three great volumes.  Needless to say, when I first got these three volumes as a gift from my older brother in the late 90's, I have read and re-read these volumes so many times now that I have lost count of the actual number of times I have read them.  If there was ever a greater writer than Shelby Foote on the whole war from before Fort Sumter to Appomattox Court House, I have failed to find and read it.  It seems as though each time I read a volume (Yes, the are thick) - I find out something new or something maybe I had somehow forgotten.  Reading these three novels also gave me a much better understanding of the men who fought for the Union and also a lot about their generals and common - front line soldiers - who were just as brave as our "Boys In Gray" - except there were just far too many of them for the South to ever win a "straight up war" - if it could ever be called that.  The reasons the South lost the war is explained by Mr. Shelby Foote in much better ways than I could ever do, but I would highly recommend these three volumes to anyone who has a interest in that part of American History.  Great historical writers like Mr. Shelby Foote may be a thing of the past now as these fine gentlemen lived in a time period where there were still some people or children of people still alive that had fought in this American Tragedy.