Gallagher on Shelby Foote

The Enduring Civil War: Reflections on the great American crisis Gary W. Gallagher / UVA historian emeritus Everybody remembers Shelby Foote from the Ken Burns series on the Civil War. Gallagher gives backhanded compliments to Shelby Foote while dissing him as an historian. Foote was a great stylist writing Ernest Hemingway like prose with short, choppy sentences. Foote is a great read! Foote did his homework, but was not thorough the way professional historians would be. Foote proudly says, "I am a Mississippian" and his views reflect a Lost Cause mentality. "I don't think the South ever had a chance to win that war." The North won because of overwhelming resources and manpower. This is a common misconception about the war reflective of historical ignorance. Only historians with a Southern bias would agree with Foote. I can picture Shelby Foote and Bill Faulkner sipping bourbon in the backyard at Rowan Oak agreeing on everything about the war.