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Unfortunately, it seems as if “The Civil War” will not hold up against historical scrutiny as well as “Reconstruction” likely will. As Eric Foner opined in his critique of “The Civil War,” “Faced with the choice between historical illumination or nostalgia, Burns consistently opts for nostalgia.” As we’ve seen in “Reconstruction,” historical reality, no matter how painful and violent and vivid, can be effectively and evocatively portrayed though documentary film. Foote, Shelby (July 16, 1989). Conversations with Shelby Foote. University Press of Mississippi. p. 141 . Retrieved July 16, 2018– via Internet Archive. Airing over a span of five nights during late September in 1990, Ken Burns’ “The Civil War” remains, to this day, the only documentary that claims to explain the entirety of the war that engulfed the United States in the mid-19th century. “The Civil War”’s premiere became the most-watched PBS program at the time, with the nine-episode series carrying a total running time of 11 hours, and to this day it remains one of the most popular shows ever to air on public broadcasting. Garnering scores of awards, “The Civil War” has now influenced generations of Americans and shaped their beliefs about slavery, the war itself, and its aftermath. The documentary had an outsized effect on how many Americans think about the war, but it’s one that unfortunately lead to a fundamental misunderstanding about slavery and its legacies—a failing that both undergirds and fuels the flames of racism today. Sharrett, Christopher. "Reconciliation and the Politics of Forgetting: Notes on Civil War Documentaries." Cinéaste, vol. 36, no. 4, 2011, pp. 28 The Civil War: A Narrative, Vol. 3: Red River to Appomattox. New York: Vintage Books. 1986. ISBN 0-394-74622-8.
The Civil War: A Narrative - Wikipedia
Shelby Foote, (born November 17, 1916, Greenville, Mississippi, U.S.—died June 27, 2005, Memphis, Tennessee), American historian, novelist, and short-story writer known for his works treating the United States Civil War and the American South. Foote's distinctive Southern accent was the model for Daniel Craig's character in the 2019 film Knives Out. [75] Publications [ edit ] Fiction [ edit ]
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The Civil War: A Narrative, Fort Sumter to Kernstown: First Blood–The Thing Gets Under Way. New York: Random House. 2005. ISBN 0-307-29023-9. Foote was raised in his father's and maternal grandmother's Episcopal faith, though he attended synagogue each Saturday with his mother until the age of eleven. [11] External video The Civil War: A Narrative. New York: Random House. 2011. ISBN 978-0-679-64370-8. OCLC 671703677. – boxed set No, despite many Lost Cause shadings, the true tone of The Civil War: A Narrative is of white reconciliation. At the end of Burns’ The Civil War, Foote is given the valedictory, which he uses to quote the Benson letter I excerpted above. While he speaks, we are shown images of old white men in blue and gray, shaking hands and making amends. This is the post-Reconstruction moment where white America decided the war had been a contest of moral equals. You were brave and I was brave; I was brave and you were brave. Now we can all get along. This is the reason Gettysburg is a national gathering place and a popular tourist destination, rather than a national scar. The Civil War: A Narrative, Petersburg to Savannah: War Is Cruelty–You Cannot Refine It. New York: Random House. 2005. ISBN 0-307-29030-1.
New Civil War Documentary | History Why We Need a New Civil War Documentary | History
Foote maintained that " the French Maquis did far worse things than the Ku Klux Klan ever did—who never blew up trains or burnt bridges or anything else," and that the First Klan "didn't even have lynchings." [31] [37] Foote saw slavery as a cause of the Civil War, commenting that "the people who say slavery had nothing to do with the war are just as wrong as the people who say it had everything to do with the war." Furthermore, Foote also argued that slavery was "certainly doomed to extinction" but was used "almost as a propaganda item," and that "those who wanted to exploit it could grab onto it." [33] Keri Leigh, Merritt. "Why We Need a New Civil War Documentary". Smithsonian . Retrieved October 10, 2019. I replied with a list of some military engagements starting with the Battle of Thermopylae and going forward well into the 20th century. The information is easily found online. I do not know why my comments were deleted.Meacham, Jon, ed. (2011). American Homer: Reflections on Shelby Foote and His Classic The Civil War: A Narrative . New York: Random House.
Shelby Foote on The Civil War | National Review Shelby Foote on The Civil War | National Review
With funding and filming taking place in the late 1980s, “The Civil War” did reflect the time in which it was made. James McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom won the Pulitzer Prize in 1989, and Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels, a best-selling novel from 1974 about the Battle of Gettysburg, still exerted obvious influence. Both of these popular histories were focused almost solely on military history – battles, soldiers, and life on the warfront, and they seemingly guided the general focus of both the editing and production of “The Civil War.”
as long as Ken Burns’s The Civil War is seen as the definitive telling of the story, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Nathan Bedford Forrest will remain on their pedestals.” At nine minutes into the first episode, the film’s only historian with a doctorate, Barbara Fields—now recognized as one of the world’s foremost scholars on race and racism—unequivocally stated that slavery was the primary cause of the Civil War. The bloodiest time in our nation’s history, she argued, was about “humanity, human dignity, human freedom.” a b c Sharrett, Christopher. “Reconciliation and the Politics of Forgetting: Notes on Civil War Documentaries.” Cinéaste, vol. 36, no. 4, 2011, pp. 27 Many professional historians immediately took issue with “The Civil War,” and their concerns were published in a 1997 volume edited by Robert Brent Toplin. Featuring essays by some of the most well-known scholars of the day, including Eric Foner and C. Vann Woodward, with responses by Ken Burns and Geoffrey Ward, Ken Burns’s The Civil War: Historians Respond did little to lessen the continuing impact – indeed, the cultural and intellectual legacy – of the film itself. MWP Writer News (June 28, 2005): Shelby Foote dies at 88". Olemiss.edu. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013 . Retrieved July 16, 2018.
Shelby Foote | Civil War, Confederate Army, Novelist | Britannica
In 1936 he was initiated in the Alpha Delta chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. Interested more in the process of learning than in earning a degree, Foote was not a model student. He often skipped class to explore the library, and once he even spent the night among the shelves. He also began contributing pieces of fiction to Carolina Magazine, UNC's award-winning literary journal. [13] Foote returned to Greenville in 1937, where he worked in construction and for a local newspaper, The Delta Democrat Times. Around this time, he began to work on his first novel. Foote's Jewish heritage led him to experience discrimination at Chapel Hill, an experience that led to his later support for the Civil Rights Movement. [20] Timothy S. Huebner, Madeleine M. McGrady. "Shelby Foote, Memphis, and the Civil War in American Memory". pp. 15–16 I'm not one for military details, but I found Foote's focus on "mistakes" of southern generals like Hood and Johnson (always forget whether it was Johnson or Johnston--I mean Joseph Johnson) interesting. They seemed to do little right while Sherman did everything right and I sense there was even some affection for him on Foote's part. And I was surprised that he didn't make as much as other histories I've read of the possibility of generals not surrendering and continuing a guerilla war for years. I thought he downplayed Nathan Bedford Forrest too, in that regard but also just as a Southern hero. Susanna Henighan Potter, Moon Tennessee, 44 (Moon Handbooks, Avalon Travel Publishing, 2009) ISBN 1-59880-114-7 The Ku Klux Klan Protests as Memphis Renames a City Park - CityLab". Archived from the original on November 12, 2018 . Retrieved November 12, 2018.The total effect is impressive—a massive synthesis of Civil War scholarship as presented by a master of words... Shelby Foote has written a book that, despite weaknesses, will be long considered a major interpretation of the military history of the Civil War... Twenty years of dedicated labor have resulted in a literary masterpiece which places Shelby Foote among those very few historians who are authors of major syntheses... this history will long stand with the volumes of Bruce Catton as the final word on the military history of the Civil War. [44] While all major projects inevitably have detractors focusing on what was left out, the film’s near silence on a range of topics—from Native Americans and campaigns in the West to labor issues and the divided South—might allow it to be called a good work of military history, but not much more than that. The Civil War: A Narrative, Tullahoma to Missionary Ridge (40th Anniversaryed.). Alexandria, VA: Time-Life. 1999. ISBN 0-7835-0107-2. A stunning book full of color, life, character and a new atmosphere of the Civil War, and at the same time a narrative of unflagging power. Eloquent proof that an historian should be a writer above all else.”—Burke Davis
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