Shelby Foote, noted novelist, esteemed historian, and thoroughgoing Mississippi gentleman, has died at the age of 88. I knew he'd been ill for quite some time; I had no idea just how serious it was.
He will be missed. He will not be forgotten.
Modern Library ranked his 3 volume The Civil War: A Narrative as # 15 on its top 100 list of the best nonfiction works of the 20th century. Truly a well-deserved accolade.
The best and nicest thing I can say is that it is impossible to read any of that work without actually hearing Shelby Foote's voice speaking his words.
For this we must thank Ken Burns, whose PBS series on the Civil War opened our eyes to Mr. Foote's existence in the first place.
The second best thing I can say about Shelby Foote is that he was no Southern sentimentalist: he did not approach his work with the attitude that the Confederacy was some idealized, romanticized Lost Cause. He stuck to facts. He hated slavery, racism, and all their implications. He was a voice of sanity and gentility in an increasingly crazy and stridently rude world.
As I said, he will be missed.
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