Shelby Foote died in July and when I read his obit, I realized I had never read any of his books on the US Civil War. So I went to the library and started on volume 1. There are three volumes in this set and the size of the books is daunting. But fear not, this is a very well written work that will hold your attention.
Foote covers the whole of the US Civil War in detail. It is, as the title says, a narrative, so he describes what happens in a way that holds your attention. Many times I picked the book up intending to read for only ten minutes and suddenly found I was a half an hour late for bed. At many points you can almost feel the fear, the elation, or the exhaustion of the people involved.
Foote does not take sides in his description of what happened. While he was from Mississippi, he does not seem to favor the South and describes events from both the Northern and Southern points of view. He does not neglect the naval war either.
This is an excellent history, but it will take you a while to read it.
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