Shelby Foote, 88, noted historian and author, dies

June 29, 2005

Shelby Foote, author of the acclaimed three volume history of the American Civil War, The Civil War: A Narrative, died in Memphis on June 27 at age 88. Foote also wrote historical fiction, including Follow Me Down and Shiloh. He may be best known for his appearance in filmmaker Ken Burns' PBS documentary, The Civil War. The Modern Library ranked Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative as number 15 on its list of 100 best non-fiction books. He was commissioned to write a short history of the Civil War by Random House and spent more than 20 years on the work eventually producing the three volumes. Foote was commissioned as a captain in the United States Army during World War II and lost his commission after visiting a female friend in an army vehicle without permission. He returned to the United States and joined the Marines in whose service he spent the remainder of the war. Following the war he was briefly a reporter for the Associated Press. Pulitzer Prize winning author and friend, Richard Ford said of Foote, "He was a Southerner of great intellect who took up the issue of the Civil War as a writer with huge sanity and sympathy."