The Civil War: A Comprehensive Narrative of the Conflict from the Red River to Appomattox

KD2: Having read only books by people who were there ie first person, I am saddened by the fact that Shelbys bias finds its way into his "historical" novels. Specifically he has an obvious dislike for Grant (maybe because he is southern?) And his most egregious sin is his perpetuation of Grant's "bender". Might I remind him Rawlins, son of a drunkard himself and tolerated no drink AND charles Dana, assistant secretary of war who WERE there never witnessed drunkenness. In fact the journalist, Cadwalder, was the one who "thought" he was drunk. In fact Grant suffered from serious & incapacitating migraines & bouts of recurring malaria (might I point out the latter can cause liver damage!). It was, as today, sensationalism journalism. Further, I counter why then we're there NEVER any reports when he was president (and let's face it whenever you needed a drink this was it) of drunkness ever and none until his death. Shame on you for your bias passing itself off as history.

United States on Jan 16, 2024

Happy Nana: Informative. Describes leaders on both sides of the conflict. Describes locations, strategies.
As one reads the three books, one can hear the authors voice. He writes beautifully.

United States on Nov 13, 2023

Grant Sansom-Sherwill: (Review is of all three volumes).

A staggeringly brilliant book. Incredibly comprehensive at approximately 3,000 pages and clearly well-researched. Author Shelby Foote clearly spared no effort in obtaining details on the events of the American Civil War. Some of the minutiae is incredibly interesting and some of the sources as rare as soldier’s letters home.

Shelby Foote then binds all these events and facts together in an incredibly engaging narrative that reads like a character-driven novel rather than historical non-fiction. Makes for engrossing reading.

All this detail makes it the go-to reference book on the Civil War.

On that note, where the book does suffer a bit is that there is sometimes TOO MUCH detail. No problem with the military stuff but in addition to detailing all the battles and military manoeuvring Foote also details the political aspects of the war. This is fine, as far as the external, broader-based politics goes – after all the war was about political and philosophical ideology.

However, he also spends a large amount of time on internal politics, generally machinations within the US or Confederate government that are...

Australia on Oct 09, 2023

David L. Marks: Breadth and some well chosen depth of events of the American Civil War, are ready for you to discover in all three volumes of this work.

I was fascinated in several respects: 1) particular events I had no notion happened, 2) the impact of individual personality traits of and decisions made by civilian and military leaders, 3) the long span of Confederate succeses and Union failures, 4) the Constitutional principles held by both sides, 5) the relative consistency of successful battle tactics, 6) the criticality and "size" of the logistics (mainly food and ammunition) to sustain the fighting forces, 7) what happened between battles.

I found it necessary to either re-read or just read without understanding completely, many of the battle descriptions. That did not affect my overall understanding of "what happened" and "how it ended" for any particular battle or movement. It was not my goal to know and retain that level of detail, and so I became comfortable with that approach. I mention this, to encourage the reader to "stay the course", and not "give up the cause" of continuing the read when the "going gets tough" as it did for me; it IS worth the effort. The occasional...

United States on Sep 10, 2023

Amazon Customer: well written and very knowledgeable

Canada on May 01, 2023

Simone Degl'Innocenti: One of the best history and military strategy books I have read and, honestly, I read a lot.

The books are so well written (they are 3) that you follow the events forgetting that you know yet the end.

A masterpiece!

Italy on Jan 09, 2022

David Farrell: Excellent condition for a used book and very prompt delivery. An excellent volume ,packed with all the information on the final years of the ACW,well written. Highly recommended.

United Kingdom on Jul 09, 2021

Ramonrb: La mejor narrativa de la Guerra Civil Americana que conozco. Muy intenso.

Spain on Dec 31, 2019

Mike Powers: I recently finished reading the third volume of Shelby Foote’s “The Civil War: A Narrative” trilogy. Volume 3, “Red River to Appomattox,” tells the story of the Civil War's final two years, 1864-1865. During this year, Abraham Lincoln finally discovers the general that will lead the Union to victory. However, that triumph still very much in doubt. Union armies have been victorious at Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga, but the Confederates have also won key battles as well – most notably at Chickamauga. Rebel armies, commanded by Robert E. Lee, are still formidably strong. They're spoiling for a fight, and they’re soon embroiled in one.

In April 1864, Ulysses S. Grant, now General-in-Chief of all Federal armies, marches his 120,000-man Army of the Potomac into Virginia and begins is the bloodiest campaign of the war. He engages Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia in major battles at the Wilderness; Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. Union and Confederate armies suffer over 55,000 casualties. Grant slowly and relentlessly moves toward Richmond... but ends up in a siege at Petersburg instead.

Meanwhile, General William T. Sherman marches his...

United States on Aug 09, 2016