Posted on 06/28/2005 10:45:07 AM PDT by Moose4
MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP) -- Novelist and Civil War historian Shelby Foote, whose appearances on a PBS-TV documentary series helped America better understand one of the most defining periods of its past, has died, his family said Tuesday.
Foote's widow, Gwen, said her husband, who was 88, died Monday night.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Thanks for posting that letter. I will play the Ashokan Farewll today in honor of Shelby.
I fell in love with this elegantly spoken man while watching his commentary in the Ken Burns Civil War series. What a true southern gentlemen.
Rest in peace, Prof. Foote.
RIP. What a majestic Vuhginyuh accent the guy had!
Not only was he an excellent writer, he was a gifted orator. That's not a very common thing.
Mr. Foote lived very well, indeed.
"Sarah my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistibly on with all these chains to the battle field."
*SIFFLE* *SOB* Wow. That was a beautiful letter. I was born way too late. Oh, to have received a letter like that from such a brave and patriotic man!
Thanks. Gotta go blow my nose... ;)
Today's history "revisionists" (or those who have been educated in public schools) should read Shelby Foote's writings. They might just get an education on what the War Between the States was really about. Foote was a truly great historian.
If you're talking about Shelby Foote, I'm not aware of any Virginia connection. I remember him as a Deep South Mississippi/Memphis man, never afraid to praise the Wizard of the Saddle, Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Shelby Foote was an outstanding writer. I've read his trilogy over and over again, and found only one error, where he puts Spencer carbines in the hands of John Buford's troops as they held off Ewell's corps west of town. Buford's guys carried mostly Sharps carbines. The Spencer carbine didn't get in the hands of the troops until the following October.
Rest in peace, Shelby. Tonight I'll raise a symbolic glass of bourbon and branch in your honor.
Sad to hear. The PBS Civl War documentary with his insight was one of the best things I have ever seen on TV.
The story goes that Burns was just supposed to talk to Foote for a couple of hours. Foote was so good, that Burns ended up with 11 hours of usable footage. Frankly, I would pay more to see the uneditted footage than I would for Burns' stilted, agenda driven finished product.
Godspeed, Mr. Foote.
This is very sad news for me. I was fortunate to meet him a couple of times over the years. He was always very kind. When I was a kid, he lived just a short distance from my family outside Memphis. Rest in peace Mr. Foote.
A loss...Foote MADE that Burns Civil War series.
Mississippi ping
I saw him once on CSpans booktalk. I believe he wrote all his books longhand, using an old "dip" fountain pen, where he had to dip the pen's nib in an inkwell everytime, after writing out just a few words.
Frankly, I would pay more to see the uneditted footage than I would for Burns' stilted, agenda driven finished product.
Agreed. Mr. Foote was the only thing that kept me from throwing my TV out in the front yard while watching Burns' "historical" epic...
I've read all three volumes of Foote's Civil War chronicles and I got the sense that ol' Shelby thought that the wrong side had won the war. It sort of amused me that Burns, given his agenda, completely missed that and made Foote a focal point of his piece.
It was a 3,000 page trilogy. Maybe the CNN version has an abridged version with really, really big print?
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