Shelby Foote, Novelist and Historian, Dies at 88

[bluestateguy]

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Novelist and Civil War historian Shelby Foote, who became a national celebrity explaining the war to America on Ken Burns' 1990 PBS documentary, has died at 88.

Foote died Monday night, said his widow, Gwyn.

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Though a native Southerner, Foote did not favor South in his history or novels and was not counted among those Southern historians who regard the Civil War as the great Lost Cause.

He publicly criticized segregationist politicians and abruptly abandoned a move to the Alabama coast in the 1960s because of the racist attitudes he found there.

more

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Obit-Foote.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

[bluestateguy]

1. kick

I'm not letting this drop into the archives that fast.

[bluestateguy]

2. kick again

again

[T Town Jake]

3. Sad news. I enjoyed the PBS "Civil War" series very much...

...and was inspired to purchase Shelby Foote's three volume history of the conflict by it. Far from a long slog, the books were very readable and I enjoyed reading them as much, if not more, as I did watching the PBS series.
Condolences to the family.

[Historic NY]

4. I will miss him.........

Shelby was an old school writer/historian...but boy could he charm you with his mild manner and southern charm. He recognized the folly of "the war" and wrote about it with out glorifying one side or the other. He put a face to the conflict by fleshing out the characters involved. Shelby wrote in a narrative style, using an old fashion steel quill pen and ink bottle. Everything he did was simple & plain, his narratives brought forth the truth as best as it could be known to the present generation. I think he accomplished that goal. He has left a body of work and research that future generations should examine and use for further projects. I could listen to him for hours on end and never get bored. Much like my mentor he shunned the spotlight, but reveled in getting his message through. His writings will go on to become more important, as Americans seek to explore their history and its place on the world scene.

Shelby RIP.

[The Magistrate]

5. Sad News, Sir

Mr. Foote was a gentleman and a scholar. He will be much missed.

"Let us cross over the river and rest in the shade of the trees."

[hootinholler]

6. Couldn't have said it any better Sir.

He will be missed.

-Hoot

[Yupster]

16. I saw him at our local college

about five years ago.

He was quite old and much off his game. It was kind of sad and disappointing to see a great person after his time.

It was like watching Willie Mays still trying to play ball with the Mets in 1973.

I also disagreed with his central argument he's made hundreds of times about the south having no chance to win the war because the north fought with only one hand. It doesn't seem like a logical argument to me.

That could be said about Vietnam too, and yet we lost.

[centristo]

11. weren't those the last words

of Stonewall Jackson?

[The Magistrate]

14. Yes, Sir

It seemed more appropriate to the sad occassion then my usual stock in the question of secession. It is also the title of an old and haunting hymn, which is probably from whence the dying man's delerium called it to his mind.

Again, Mr. Foote was an extraodinary gentleman, and scholarly almost to the point of embodying the things he studied: he understood them as if he had lived them himself, and could communicate them in a living manner.

[nonconformist]

7. RIP Mr. Foote. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. RIP Mr Foote

that is what a historian looks like

[EFerrari]

9. Such a loss. I only heard him speak once on CSPAN

and he was amazing.

[Patiod]

10. A great loss

I'm not that interested in military history, and don't know that I could get through his entire treatment of the Civil War, but I've read gorgeous "The Stars in their Courses", about the battle at Gettysburg, three times.

This weekend, July 1-3, will be a doubly appropriate time to dive back into it again.

As Bart might say, "A shot of tequila for Mr. Foote!"

[rndmprsn]

12. sad...he will forever be etched into my memory from the civil wars series

[Coventina]

13. My condolences to his family.

My hope is that he's having a nice chat now with the key players he wrote so much about.

[FARAFIELD]

15. INDEED

as he wrote himself in his series when talking about troops in the blue and the gray reenacting thier battles in Heaven (vallhalla). "after the fight, all will get up again, whole again, and shake hands and say "was it not real?". "was it not as in the old days"