Maurice Denis
French painter (1870-1943)
Shelby Foote was an acclaimed American writer, historian, and journalist best known for his three-volume history of the American Civil War. He gained wider recognition after appearing in Ken Burns’ documentary The Civil War, where he shared his deep insights into the conflict that shaped the nation.
Table of Contents
About the Shelby Foote
Shelby Dade Foote Jr.was an American writer, historian and journalist. Although he primarily viewed himself as a novelist, he is now best known for his authorship of The Civil War: A Narrative, a three-volume history of the American Civil War.
With geographic and cultural roots in the Mississippi Delta, Foote’s life and writing paralleled the radical shift from the agrarian planter system of the Old South to the Civil Rights era of the New South. Foote was little known to the general public until his appearance in Ken Burns’s PBS documentary The Civil War in 1990, where he introduced a generation of Americans to a war that he believed was “central to all our lives”.
Foote did all his writing by hand with a nib pen, later transcribing the result into a typewritten copy. While Foote’s work was mostly well-received during his lifetime, it has been criticized by professional historians and academics in the 21st century.
Frequently Asked Questions
Shelby Foote was an American writer, historian, and journalist who is best known for his three-volume history of the American Civil War, titled ‘The Civil War: A Narrative’.
Shelby Foote was born on November 17, 1916 in the Mississippi Delta region.
Although Foote primarily viewed himself as a novelist, he is now best known for his magnum opus, ‘The Civil War: A Narrative’, a comprehensive three-volume history of the American Civil War.
Foote was relatively unknown to the general public until his appearance in Ken Burns’ acclaimed PBS documentary ‘The Civil War’ in 1990, where he captivated audiences with his deep insights and storytelling about the American Civil War.
Foote did all of his writing by hand using a nib pen, later transcribing the results into a typewritten copy, a unique and meticulous approach for a renowned historian.
While Foote’s work was mostly well-received during his lifetime, it has been criticized by some professional historians and academics in the 21st century for its perceived biases and shortcomings.
With his roots in the Mississippi Delta, Foote’s life and writing paralleled the radical shift from the agrarian planter system of the Old South to the Civil Rights era of the New South.
22 Quotes by Shelby Foote
- 1.
When you grow up in a totally segregated society, where everybody around you believes that segregation is proper, you have a hard time. You can’t believe how much it’s a part of your thinking.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 2.
I ran into Ku Klux Klan and the threat of hurricanes, and those two things made me decide not to build on the Alabama coast, so we came back to Memphis.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 3.
I think making mistakes and discovering them for yourself is of great value, but to have someone else to point out your mistakes is a shortcut of the process.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 4.
Most of my inspiration, if that’s the word, came from books themselves.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 5.
I took five years on the first volume, five years on the second volume, and ten years on the third volume.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 6.
If you want to study writing, read Dickens. That’s how to study writing, or Faulkner, or D.H. Lawrence, or John Keats. They can teach you everything you need to know about writing.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 7.
And I’m a slow writer: five, six hundred words is a good day. That’s the reason it took me 20 years to write those million and a half words of the Civil War.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 8.
I never cared what kind of grade I got.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 9.
My second book, Follow Me Down had some success, got good critical notices, went into a second printing and things like that, but Shiloh was by far the most successful of those first five novels.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 10.
Shiloh is a wonderfully dramatic battle. The leader of one side is killed, and the other one is going on to glory, and it was the first great battle. It lasted two days.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 11.
I’ve never shown anybody a draft of anything.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 12.
I don’t want anything to do with anything mechanical between me and the paper, including a typewriter, and I don’t even want a fountain pen between me and the paper.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 13.
But the same thing was true in the army. You slept in a barracks with all kinds of people of every nationality, every trade, every character and quality you can imagine, and that was a good experience.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 14.
I used to write sonnets and various things, and moved from there into writing prose, which, incidentally, is a lot more interesting than poetry, including the rhythms of prose.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 15.
I’m crazy about Grant: his character, his nature, his science in fighting and everything else. But I don’t like the idea that he never accepted the blame for anything, always found someone else to blame for any mistake that was ever made, including blaming Prentiss for Shiloh.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 16.
I think that everything you do helps you to write if you’re a writer. Adversity and success both contribute largely to making you what you are. If you don’t experience either one of those, you’re being deprived of something.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 17.
Getting close to books, and spending time by myself, I was obliged to think about things I would never have thought about if I was busy romping around with a brother and sister.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 18.
Of all the passions of mankind, the love of novelty most rules the mind. In search of this, from realm to realm we roam. Our fleets come loaded with every folly home.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 19.
And I really do think that the difficulty of research makes it more real to you than punching a thing to find out how many men were killed at this particular action.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 20.
I prize the Depression, for instance, because I learned the value of things in the Depression that a way people who don’t have to worry about such things never learned to prize it really, I believe.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 21.
I began the way nearly everybody I ever heard of – I began writing poetry. And I find that to be quite usual with writers, their trying their hand at poetry.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)
- 22.
Longevity conquers scandal every time.
Shelby FooteAmerican novelist, historian (1916-2005)