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Re: Answers Legolas Send a noteboard - 28/10/2010 09:22:01 PM
It starts with Senator Jefferson Davis resigning from the Senate. If you are interested in a lengthy explanation for the causes for the war you won't find it in this trilogy, which is more about the war itself. I'm sure there are plenty of books that do cover it, though.

Ah well. I suppose he can't do everything.
The South's quest for international recognition is well-documented, which really is about how Great Britain was disinclined to recognize a nation that came into existence almost solely as the result of its desire to hold slaves, and how France under Napoleon III would not act without Great Britain. Russia was pro-Union from the start.

Good. Ever since having a class on the international (mostly European) politics from Napoleon to WW1, I'm very much interested in that whole thing, so if he deals with that it makes it that much more likely that I'd read it.
Foote notes that Lincoln was a skillful politician and doesn't have any problems stating that he would break "any promise" if it suited him. He tries to portray Lincoln in his totality, rather than through a distorting lens of idealism (in fact, he avoids falling into the trap of the "noble cause" of the South, too). However, your comments about hero-worship seem to apply to a different America than the present one. In the post-Watergate Presidential myth-smashing and cynical America of the turn of the millennium, there is very little inclination to engage in hero-worship. If anything, Foote showed me in a far more mature way that the hero-worship had a sound basis in fact, and that in our haste to tear down idols we perhaps discount too much. While the book may have been written (mostly) before the cynical turn in America, it seemed to anticipate it and makes a stronger, more compelling argument for thinking people, rather than resort to base cliche.

I will readily admit that I haven't read many actual history books by serious authors on the topic, so perhaps if I read some recent works on Lincoln or the War of Independence I'd find what I was looking for. It's mostly popular history and general public opinion that still does the hero-worship, I suppose.

If he has a balanced portrayal from which Lincoln still emerges as a remarkable politician, so much the better.
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The Civil War by Shelby Foote. - 28/10/2010 08:25:39 PM 11805 Views
Thank you for the review. - 28/10/2010 08:37:38 PM 1385 Views
If you do, be sure to let me know what you think - 28/10/2010 08:56:15 PM 1372 Views
I will. - 28/10/2010 09:24:00 PM 1404 Views
Interesting. I do have a number of questions... - 28/10/2010 08:38:46 PM 1428 Views
Answers - 28/10/2010 08:52:48 PM 1567 Views
Re: Answers - 28/10/2010 09:22:01 PM 1525 Views
Thanks for the review. - 28/10/2010 11:09:19 PM 1404 Views
You should! - 30/10/2010 05:35:03 AM 1443 Views
Excellent. - 29/10/2010 02:24:56 AM 1553 Views
Chandler's book is excellent. - 29/10/2010 03:28:18 PM 1600 Views
I am curious - 30/10/2010 03:38:56 AM 1597 Views
Foote mentions it. - 30/10/2010 05:34:33 AM 1474 Views
Cool. *NM* - 31/10/2010 02:05:05 AM 760 Views
My brain instantly assumed it would be about Britain. Huh. - 30/10/2010 12:00:54 PM 1380 Views

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