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Stars in Their Courses : The Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863
written by Shelby Foote
Studio : Modern Library
by Modern Library
Release Date : 1994-06-28
Publisher : Modern Library
Released : 1994-06-28
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780679601128
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 37 reviews)
List Price : $19.95
Our Price : $5.99
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Americancivilwar.com |
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Shelby Foote, who cut such a courtly figure in Ken Burns's PBS series The Civil War, is an uncommonly graceful writer as well, and this careful study of the 1863 Gettysburg campaign assumes the contours of a classical tragedy. Foote positions readers on the field of battle itself, among swirling smoke and clattering grapeshot, and invites us to feel for ourselves its hellishness: "men on both sides were hollering as they milled about and fired, some cursing, others praying ... not a commingling of shouts and yells but rather like a vast mournful roar." Foote's fine book is history as literature, and a welcome addition to any Civil War buff's library. |
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A Perfect Balance |
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Shelby Foote's Stars in Their Courses provides the perfect balance to Bruce Catton's Gettysburg: The Final Fury. While Catton's history unfolds largly from the Union perspective, Foote walks the reader through the same battle from the Confederate perspective. I appreciate Foote's professional attitude. He is careful not to assign undue blame or indulge in excessive "what ifs". Instead he describes the strategic and tactical logic behind the battle, what led to its eventual outcome, and how crucial decisions were made during the fighting. This is a well written book, though, as someone has said, it would have been nice to have better and more frequent maps. Foote is the quintessential southern civil war historian, and you will not be disappointed with this relatively quick read. |
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Another brilliant work by Foote |
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Actually sought this out to give as a gift to a very big fan of Shelby. This work is tremendous and for the fan or the enthusiast a brilliant read. |
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A walk through a time from the future |
Bought this after I went on a self guided tour of Gettysburg one gray winter day, and wanted to learn more than I did or could remember from Elementary/High School.
Wonderfully written. I just wish there were more of the maps in the book to refer to as he talks about the movements.
Highly recommended |
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As Good as it gets |
I could write a long review about how good this book is but that would be a diservice to the author. We lost a great historian when Shelby Foote passed. He was a historian who prefered to be remembered as a novelist. As a proud Vermont Yankee, professional historian, and living historian of that period, I tend to get cranky about revisionist views or the whole Sourthern "lost cause" foolishness. However, Mr. Foote, a proud southerner, wrote about the most important event in our nation's history without the prejudice or regionalism, so many bring to the topic. He could write excellent history and tell the story with the readability of a novelist.
We are poorer for his passing but the body of work he left behind on the Civil War will remain some of the must have items in any serious collection of books about that second birth of our nation.
We'll miss you Shelby but thank you for what you left behind. |
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Wonderful balance between detail and scope |
Foote isn't just a historian who writes, he's (IMHO) first and foremost a writer who really knows his history. What that means is that in his books, you get great narratives that draw you in, but the story stays true to the facts and isn't over-dramatized.
This book strikes the perfect balance between giving enough detail that you can follow the key events clearly, but then not getting so bogged down in details that you get bored or lost in them. He is great about sprinkling in stories that bring in the 'human element' and make the story come alive. I especially liked how he handled the contention between Longstreet and Lee over tactics at Gettysburg.
I'd recommend this book to anyone, but especially to someone who knows a bit about the Civil War but wants to flesh out their understanding of this key battle.
One last thing... the book has no index so going back to find information later is difficult. Why no index?
Sad to hear that Foote has passed on and that there will be no more wonderful books from him like this one. |
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