Here begins one of the most remarkable works of history ever fashioned. All the great battles are here, of course, from Bull Run through Shiloh, the Seven Days, Second Manassas to Antietam and Perryville in the fall of 1862, but so are the smaller and often equally-important engagements on both land and sea: Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Island Ten, New Orleans, Monitor versus Merimac, and Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign-to mention only a few.
And perhaps never before have these conflicts been so clearly, so dramatically -and so excitingly-presented. The word "narrative" is the key, not only to this extraordinary book's incandescence, but also to its truth. The story is told entirely from the point of view of the people involved in it. The listener not only learns what was happening in the North and South, on the political, military, diplomatic and home fronts-he lives through the events as if he were there. This is the way it was, in its entirety, as far as Shelby Foote could discover it during years of exhaustive research.
*Note: Extended track length may prohibit the ability to burn to a standard CD.
The Civil War: A Narrative, Vol1, Fort Sumter to Perryville
Written by John Lloyd on October 16th, 2006
Book Rating: 5/5
James M. Mcpherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom", was my first incursion into American History since high school. I hated it then (in high school), but now, some 45 years or so later, I found it the most fascinating read I'd had in years.
Shelby Foote's narrative history of the Civil War was next, and it started me down the road to a collection of first edition Civil War history's and biography's that number over a thousand volumes.
Mr. Foote devoted nearly 20 years to this 3 volume history, and I would be supremely happy if I could have spent 20 years of my life in such a noble pursuit. Wonderful read, almost as good in Audio.
The MP3 version I rented has an irritating trait of changing volume significantly between tracks, requiring frequent adjustment to both tone and volume controls, but the reader is both articulate and handles characterization well.
