Book Review: The Civil War - A Narrative

No, this is not the book review that reveals the identity of the girl in the previous post.

Actually, back in October, we here at the city desk of the Factual Dog went to bed one night and discovered that we were out of new books to read. Since that would clearly not do, we went down to the basement library and started re-reading the first few pages of Shelby Foote's three-part series, "The Civil War - A Narrative, Volume 1". We first read this 2,800 page saga in 1991 (old bookmarks in the form scrap paper, such as receipts, showed the exact dates and locations I was reading it - in one case on a flight to Saginaw, Michigan).

As our readers know, we have a facination/obsession with everything Civil War, and Foote's "Narrative" is nothing short of epic. It is as readible as the best novel you will find, and as comprehensive as anything written on the subject. Moreover, he tells the story with something even the best historians lack: balance. This is not to say Foote is in any way defending the south from a political point of view. Rather, he gives you the facts as seen from both sides. You may not agree with any one political faction, but you certainly do get in the minds of the people who started and fought the war. We only give 5 star ratings to a very, very few books. This is one.

He also strikes a balance between East and West. For most Americans (at least the ones who have even a basic familiarity with American history), the Civil War was basically about Gettysburg and Grant and Lee duking it out in Virginia. Foote dedicates as much - or nearly as much - space on the "western" theater as on the east. Few people could tell you that Chicamauga was the second bloodiest battle of the War. Or that Shiloh had more casualties than the Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War combined. And Shiloh ended up at around 10th place on the list of Civil War battle casualties. Grant and Lee, remember, opposed each other for all of 13 months, almost entirely within an area of about 100 x 75 miles. The entire front was over 1,000 miles long, and there were over 10,000 battles and skirmishes.

So after reading 2,000 pages over the next six weeks, we decided to give it a rest at the North Anna River (June, 1864). We will finish it up sometime later in the year, but meanwhile, a shipment of seven books came in - none having to do with the Civil War, btw. So last week we read a book about the young woman in the picture (hint, she was 28 at the time, and is now deceased). We are now reading "Freakonmics", which is short but interesting. Will get a review out on both in no time.