I lost interest in Burns when he skews off into the racism bit. Though I have not seen them, his Jazz and Baseball productions have the same predictable slant (so I'm told). Burns won acclaim as being one of the first "comprehensive" works on the WBTS to include rare WBTS images.
However, if you enjoy Shelby Foote, check out the audio readings by him - fantastic narratives with that muddy mississippy accent.
That more than anything else confused me about the whole thing and made it rather inconsistent. But the entire film left me with more questions than answers so hopefully I can get some help from y'all.
(That is, if a native Idahoan is permitted to say "y'all" :) ).