The Civil War: A Narrative - Fort Sumter to Perryville, Vol 1 (Shelby Foote)
It takes a certain amount of something to just flat out name your book "The Civil War", but in this case I have to admit the author has made a strong case to the definitive title. First things first: Even though this is only "Vol 1", this is a huge book, and when not being read, can be used as a weight to straighten out curved Magic card sleeves. At 800 big pages (not counting bibliography!) for a measly (as of this writing) $16 (cheap!), I believe this may be one of the cheapest cents-to-words ratios you can get.
And, of course, it's not just quantity, but also quality. Don't let the size of the books intimidate you - the material inside masterfully condenses and weaves the events of multiple theaters of war into one coherent, enjoyable narrative. I read all three volumes as a teenager, and I'm not saying that to brag, I'm mentioning it to illustrate that the material contained within is never obtuse. The only issue I had was that the book was published in 1958, so you do run across the occasional weird bit of slang, which is honestly more entertaining than anything else. What else can I say? Don't let the size scare you off; You'll want to pick this up if you have even the slightest interest in the subject. Maybe that should have just been the review. Well, there's always Volume 2.
Grade: A+
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