The Civil War: A Narrative: Fort Sumter to Perryville; Fredericksburg to Meridian; Red River to Appomattox.

"Shelby Foote remained relatively unknown before his role in Ken Burns’ [documentary film] The Civil War made him a cultural icon. Since that event, Foote has become widely viewed as an authority on the Civil War, and more generally, as a representative of an era and region whose place continues to be central to our country’s understanding of itself" (University of Mississippi). "His mission was to tell what he considered America’s biggest story as a vast, finely detailed, deeply human narrative A model of what military history can be" (New York Times). Named by Modern Library as one of the 100 best non-fiction books of the twentieth century.