This is, without a doubt, the best book on the seige of Vicksburg that maybe was ever written. Never have I gotten more insight into the heart of Grant as well as a blow by blow description of the problems that befell this Union Army in undertaking what some have called an impossible victory.

For some it may be unclear just how Grant finally took the city of Vicksburg and who to tell it wisely but Shelby Foote! Shelby Foote is probably one of the best authors of the Civil War around and it is certainly easy to understand why in this very informative book! Foote carefully explains all engagements in and around Vicksburg that eventually come to light towards the finish. Every event is descriptively written covering many naval strategies along the Mississippi, Yazoo and other rivers which were of importance to naval affairs of each opposing side. Grants struggles to capture the city are indeed covered by many in depth chapters which cover the naval and land assaults. Also to help build the story, strategic moves in and around the city by Sherman and other generals make it easy to understand the Union grip upon Pemberton towards the end. Another interesting part of this book was about Grant's personal dealings with daily life and how alcohol was a problem. Besides just mentioning movements and battles in this book, condition of troops, officers and citizens of Vicksburg is also presented well. Pemberton's decisions towards the end to surrender easily give the reader a true sense of desparation upon the part of Pemberton to seek help from Johnston for most of the seige which never came. Such writing makes it clear of Pemberton's motives to defend yet finally surrender the city to Union forces as a the stranglehold is built up from the start of the book and to the end!

I hope my fellow reviewer's amusing description of this slender volume as "Foote Lite" doesn't mislead a potential reader into thinking that "The Beleaguered City" lacks any of the poetry and the power of the three-volume masterwork from which it is excerpted. It simply presents the great historian's work in a more easily digested portion - a consumer service for which I personally am quite grateful.

While the Vicksburg campaign, being (in my simple opinion, anyway) more of coup de grace than a turning point, lacks the supreme drama of the battle at Gettysburg (magnificently presented in Foote's "The Stars In Their Courses", over which I have raved elsewhere), it is an amazing story in its own right. As always, not only does Foote brilliantly limn the military action with stirring prose of an almost Homeric grandeur, he unearths the small human details that bring the long-ago events to life with shuddering poignancy. (i.e. A Union commander preparing to assault a Confederate fort at daybreak reports that from behind the enemy's walls he heard "the prettiest reveille I ever did hear", or General McClernand maintaining his military reserve even as a distraught Southern woman defiantly sings "The Bonnie Blue Flag" right in his face.) He is fortunate, of course, to be studying a period in which even humble footsoldiers, steeped in the cadences of the King James Bible, commanded a musical quality of rhetoric that puts today's orators to shame. (i.e. A disgruntled newspaper editor begs his political friend to convince Lincoln that General Grant is "a jackass in the original package", and a captured Union officer gallantly inquires of his captors, "Is this the Army of the Confederacy for which I have so long and earnestly sought? Then, sirs, I am your guest for the duration.")

A very special treat is the audio edition, read by Foote himself in a smoky Mississippi drawl that could not be better suited to the text. It's akin to hearing the great national epic patiently recited by the Voice of America itself.

this is a must have collection (the 3 volumes), for anyone intersted in writting short stories or the russia of 1900's, it contains his most important works of this type, the translation is made by one of the foremost experts on russian literature 'Constance Garnett', although is to notice that it does not include any references in the footnotes of changed russian words that do not exist in english.

Read one of these stories a day (and perhaps chow down on an apple) and... your happiness is assured!

Highest possible recommendation!

Marvelous is the only word to describe this first of three volumes of Anton Chekhov's short stories published by the Modern Library. While the following two compilations are each superlative in their own way (thank you again, Shelby Foote), this Early Short Stories 1883-88, is a thrilling peek at genuis not only flowering but seemingly mature; a self-assured young artist at play in his medium, inventing a new(then) approach to emotions as easily as passing off a serf's bromide or a bishop's benediction. This is lesson one in the art of the short story, boys & girls, and it doesn't get much better....ever.

. . .but there were a number of reasons it doesn't score 5 stars, at least in the mind of this reviewer.

There is no doubt that Wolfe has written a very, very good "novel" (history, really) about the great test pilots of the 1950's and especially the Mercury 7 astronauts. He as gone far to try to make the story as accurate and honest as possible. For this, he should be commended. And frankly, the book was just plain fun to read, especially for someone (like myself) who is a staunch supporter of the space program.

However, I was put off by Wolfe's casual writing style. Yes, it's a personal beef -- but this is a personal review, and I just didn't resonate with him stylistically! More serious, though, to my mind, was what the book 'did' -- and that is, to seriously deconstruct a myth. The men (and their families) depicted in the book, were (and to a certain extent, still are) heros in the minds of many Americans -- in a time when American badly needed heros. And to my mind, Wolfe trimmed those heros down to size. I'm not convinced that this was necessary -- or a good idea.

No, I'm not naive. I realize that ALL heros have feet of clay. I'm just not sure that it is appropriate -- or healthy -- to exploit that clay.

For a very long time "The Right Stuff" was my favorite book (excluding the Bible, which is unique). Even after reading Dante's "Divine Comedy," I'm not sure Wolfe's book has been dislodged from its position.

Wolfe begins to work his literary magic on the first page. A young, beautiful woman is worried about her husband, a Navy test pilot, having heard that there has been a plane crash. Space buffs like me reading the book are fascinated to realize that the woman is Jane Conrad, wife of Pete Conrad (which, incidentally, tells us that the bad news that day won't be about her husband). If this scene appeared in a different book about the space program, even one as superb as Andrew Chaikin's "A Man on the Moon" or Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger's "Apollo 13," the account of events, while exciting and suspenseful, would remain on a somewhat mundane plane of everyday reality. Wolfe's glittering, idiosyncratic literary style lifts events into a world of super-reality. We experience Jane Conrad's concern and dread as if we were Jane Conrad. Perhaps more than any other book I have read, "The Right Stuff" has caused me to remember the events it relates as if I lived through them rather than reading about them.

One noteworthy feature of Wolfe's style in this book is his nearly Wagnerian use of verbal "leitmotiven," key phrases which pop up over and over in the book and come to convey far more than the simple content of the words. Anyone who has read the book will remember for a long time Wolfe's use of such phrases as "bad streak," "Flying and Drinking and Drinking and Driving," "the Integral," "our rockets always blow up," "the Presbyterian Pilot," "single combat warrior," "ziggurat," and, of course, "the right stuff."

The book also contains the funniest set-piece in any book I have ever read, the description of the celebration when the astronauts and their families first visit Houston, including the fan dance by the ancient Sally Rand. Interestingly, in the excellent film version of the book this scene was transformed from a hilarious comedy sequence into something elegiac, intercut with the sequence of Chuck Yeager bailing out of a plane (which happened on a different day in reality and in the book) to create drama and suspense. In this radically different form the two sequences are just as effective in the movie as they are in the book.

"The Right Stuff" has sometimes been criticized for being overly fictionalized, or at least speculative. These criticisms probably have a great deal of validity, but they do not alter the fact that "The Right Stuff" is the definitive evocation of that brief era around 1960 when almost anything, good or bad, seemed possible. It is an unforgettable literary achievement.

What do you get when you mix an historian and a world-class writer? The Right Stuff. Tom Wolfe takes us back to a black and white time when America was apple pie and comic book heroes--at least in nostalgic hindsight. Amidst these glory years of the '50s and '60s there was trouble brewing, however. The Russians were winning the Space Race. Up to the plate step a group of true blue American heroes, men like John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Alan Shepard, and Chuck Yeager, men with the Right Stuff. Together they overcame technical barriers, tragedy, and the limits of human endurance to prevent the Soviets from controlling Space, the high ground from which they could drop nukes on us at will.

This superbly told story brings history alive. We are brought into the lives and heads of these complex real-life characters, family men who risked 25% mortality rates to "press the envelope" first as test pilots and then as astronauts. We cheer as the records fall and mourn the loss of those who "crash and burn."

Full research, high use of language, insightful character analysis, and exciting drama. You can't go wrong with the Right Stuff. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.

Shiloh is a gruesome tale of the hardships of war and the effect that war can have on individuals that are involved in it. The battle at Shiloh was, for some, just another battle, but for many it was their last. Shelby Foote does a fantastic job describing the scenes so that you can almost feel the heat from the lead whizzing past you. He does a wonderful job with disgusting details of the men that never returned home. I don't usually enjoy war novels because the ending is rather obvious, but for this single battle I was on the verge of flipping ahead just to find the outcome. I would recommend this book to anyone that wouldn't get grossed out by blood and death because Foote paints a clear picture with his fantastic detail. Again, if you usually don't like Civil War novels, you may find there is something about Shiloh that is different. It puts you on the battlefield, lets you feel both sides of the fighting and it is definitely worth checking out of the library!

This isn't the greatest Civil War novel - that honour belongs to the Killer Angels, and probably Cold Mountain, but it's a very fine book.

Foote is one of the great authorities on the War, and though he wrote this when pretty young it is still filled with detail and knowledge of the war. It conveys well the chaos of the fighting and how, as so often, small failures of generalship cost the battle.

However, I found the plotting pretty contrived, and the effort to tell the battle through multiple viewpoints was not really helped by the way the different characters kept unwittingly crossing each other. Also, though this book was certainly ahead of its time in trying to convey the war through ordinary men's eyes, you sensed that Foote was actually more drawn to the leaders who he used the soldiers to describe - Forrest, Grant, Sherman etc. Also, the method he uses, and the whole way in which Shiloh was neither defeat or victory for either side, means the ending is curiously unsatisfying and unresolved - unlike the war itself.

But, if there's something that doesn't quite work about this book, there's a lot that does. Enjoy.

Few authors can write narrative history on the same level as Shelby Foote. This book is a wonderful example of his abilities and deals with the battle of Shiloh through the eyes of several men on both sides of the conflict. His characters are not the generals on the field, rather they are common soldiers ranging from privates who have never seen battle up to a colonel (Forrest) -- people that don't have all the answers, others who are still searching for the questions. The wonderful thing about Foote's writing is his ability to make you feel like you were there without bogging the story down with too many numbers and statistics, but allowing the viewer a much deeper understanding of the events of the battle by giving us a glimpse through the eyes of those who were there. If you want stats, get an almanac, if you want a great story about one of the most interesting events in the American Civil War written by one of the best authors of our time, read this book!

Another reader of this book has written: "Foote's primary weakness as a novelist is that he seems to be unable to find his own voice." This is a remarkable comment, since one of the intriguing aspects of the novel is precisely author Foote's use of voice! In the "Voices" chapters, he alternates points of view from each of the characters. He also uses time shifts with great effectiveness, as at the end of the novel, when we shift forward with a preview of what will befall two members of the kidnapping threesome. The kidnapping itself is suspenseful, yet perhaps more exciting is the character development, for the kidnapped boy's father undergoes a profound revelation. It isn't nearly so much the content of this novel as it is its style which makes it a good read, and a worthwhile one. It illuminates a difficult time in American history, yet it is intimate and finely drawn.

Although Shelby Foote is thought of as a historian, he has always considered himself, first and foremost, a novelist. "September, September" is the story of some rednecks up from Mississippi who have come to Memphis, Tenn. to kidnap the son of a prominent black family. As a background for this story, Foote has chosen the month of September, 1957 when the South was in turmoil over the forced integration of Little Rock Central High School. Foote has meticulously researched his novel with a historian's eye for detail: the weather in Memphis on specific days, who won the Miss America pageant in 1957 (Miss Colorado, Marylin Van Derbur), and the release of the Edsel by Ford Motor Company.

Foote's primary weakness as a novelist is that he seems to be unable to find his own voice. Although the book is skillfully structured and well written, the plot is somewhat tired and predictable. There are very few surprises. Foote has somewhat adopted the structure used skillfully by his mentor William Faulkner of telling a little bit of the story at a time from the point of view of different characters. Foote's steamy descriptions of sex and lovemaking and rivalry among two men for the affections of the same woman are reminscent of Erskine Caldwell.

For all it's failings, "September, September" is an excellent novel. Shelby Foote, the excellent American historian, is also an outstanding American novelist.

this southernistic view of greed and crime is a truly well written thriller!!foote has once again showed his talent as a novelist and and a true artist of the english language!

I bought this book because of an enduring love affair with the literary works of Walker Percy. As an addition to the literary biographies of Percy written by Samway and Tolson, the letters serve their purpose well. As a letters volume on its own merits, The Correspondence of Shelby Foote and Walker Percy is unbalanced. Apparently, Foote didn't start saving Percy's letters until the exchange had been occurring for some time. Nevertheless, it is thoroughly interesting to observe Foote's massive ego as he lectures Percy, having the knowledge that Percy ultimately became the far greater literary star. If you've already delved deeply into the work and history of Walker Percy, you'll need this book. If not, find a different starting place, this is not a good place to begin.

This was a great read, but each of the correspondents disappointed in their own ways. Percy's letters are written in an intelligent but notably vague style; Foote's have more bite and literary polish, but at the same time display a nasty streak in his personality that remained invisible in his brilliant _Civil War_.

It's a bit sickening to watch on as Foote seduces the wife of a local doctor, and later recommends to Percy (oh so wittily) that he use pillows to prop up the crotches of female UNC undergrads so that they might better serve his wishes.

On the bright side, it is hilarious to watch Foote react to a letter from a clueless librarian accusing him of failing to mention Gettysburg in his history (she seems not to have realized that it was a multi-volume work). Even more importantly, the entire collection is thought-provoking.

Pity Shelby Foote. Most people know his as a writer of books on the Civil War. But when you read this book of letters you see that what thrilled him most was reading great literature.

The reader of this book of letters between two friends will be thrilled by talk of literature. Foote is like Herr Settembrini of Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain". He is so overwhelmed by humantistic learning that he finds he must educate his friend and mentor Hans Castrop, in this case Walker Percy.

It is ironic that the prodigy in this case, Walker Percy, soon eclipses the mentor. Walker Percy agonizes in his early letters about his inability to have his novels published while Foote publishes his books in rapid succession. But today Percy's "Moviegoer" and other books are still read while only Foote's "Shiloh" is really still popular. It seems Foote is stuck with Civil War fame have written his long classic on the war.

Reading Foote's letters is where I discovered Flanney O'Connor. Walker Percy and Shelby Foote spoke highly of her here. They also talk about the important of reading Marcel Proust, Faulkner, and a dozen others. Toward the end Foote begins to spew forth on the merits of reading the Greek classics. It is his description of these books and their authors that adds to one's own literary education.

The first part of the book is a little annoying because Shelby Foote threw away the letters that Walker Percy sent to him for the first many years of their correspondence. So you keep reading Shelby Foote but are not privvy to what Walker Percy as to say.

As stated in my summary, this book provides a good overall view of the Civil War and would be a good read for any Civil War beginner. However, the best feature about the book is its photographs of modern and Civil War-era type. The modern ones are all worthy of being framed art and the Civil War ones are blown up as to let the reader feel he's actually there. Also the book has many photos that I've not come across in my voluminous readings. The book's major shortcomings are the lack of real inclusion of any other Civil War causes other than slavery and occasional inaccuracies (One inaccuracy: Black CSA soldiers weren't in combat. In fact, the ones recruited at the end of the war DID combat. Also there were many who fought with the South through the duration of the war). This book is a MUST for any Civil War photo buff.

This book is hard to put down. Foote's characters are so detailed and fascinting that I found my self totally drawn into the story --even though some of the characters are completely unlikeable and almost pathetic in their selfishness. Foote tells the story of two families affected by the same man (a virtual con-man, who sees himself only as ambitious -- and justified in everything he does). The book was written almost 50 years ago, but it still reads like a modern character study. I'll admit that some of the historical references where too obscure for me, but the characterizations are timeless.

Foote's a fine writer, a wonderful and accessible historian -- but he's no performer and he does his work a great disservice by narrating it on this audio version. His slower than molasses, monotone reading makes for an incredibly frustrating listening experience. You want to scream at him to just get on with it. I ended up giving up on the whole thing after only the second tape. A shame. I enjoyed reading Foote's history on the Civil War several years ago and was looking forward to reliving the experience in tape form. I suggest you get this in book form.

Once again Shelby Foote's well researched studies are further enhanced by his narration. His southern manner and style makes a good book to read, a great book to hear.

Unforgettable! Superb. Shelby Foote's captivating tale and his sonorous voice have not been out of my mind, now 3 or 4 years after listening to it...absolutley worth the buying....I am shopping today for a friend!

I found this book about the civil war and easy to read because it was very interesting. The book was based a drummer named Henry Flemming, a young man who at the beginning is scared for his life, finds himself commanding a division of infantry with new friend Wilson. The tite Red Badge of Courage comes from a badge symbolizing bravery and courage. When Henrys best friend Jim Conklin dies, the war represents the enviroment is still moving even though he has died. After his death, Henry is confused and angry at his recent choices of running from the battlefront. He strived to be a hero, and thats what he did. This book's moral to me is to always keep your head up and do your best at everything you do. Some of the things that I didn't enjoy very much were that it didn't really tell the awful details of war, if the author is going to release a book out about war, it usually should tell people that war is not a good thing and teach people it is not something to wish for. It also only covered a time span of a few days, Quite a short period. Thankyou for your time.
-Bret

The Red Badge of Courage Excellent book!

The Red badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, is an excellent book to read and experience. The book deals with the fears, sorrows, the cowardice and courage of the soldiers as they fought one of the bloodiest wars-Chancellorsville. Although the author has not lived during the war, his writing portrays how the soldier felt in incredible accuracy. His book is written in great detail and lets the reader know how the soldiers felt. His book is also very emotional and exciting during the mourning and the fighting scenes of the story. Of course his book isn¡¯t perfect, however this book is really close to being a perfect book. Stephen Crane has very few weak points in his writing. In his book, the quotes of the soldiers were kind of hard to understand because of the heavy slang that they all use when they have a conversation. Such as ¡°We¡¯ve on¡¯y got t¡¯ git across that lot!¡±. The reader needs to know a little about the southeastern slang before he or she reads it. Therefore, the conversation that the soldiers had often during the book tends to be very confusing and quite boring to the reader. This book is a great book to read because of the variety of schemes the book is written in such as violence, emotional, and exciting. I would recommend this book to any boys or girls older than 13 because of the violence and slang that he uses in the book. It is a great book for anyone that likes history with a little violence put into it. I would also recommend this book to anyone that is interested of war or anyone that wants to read a good fictional book based on the battle of Chancellorsville.

The Red Badge of Courage by stephen Crane is one of the most spectacular books that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Throughout my life I have een completely anti-war. I didn't want war, I didn't want to read about it,...nothing. Over the summer I took the time to read Red Badge which was suggested to me by a few friends. I was blown away. Never have I received such a compelling impact from a book as from that novel. (I even cried with the characters.) The imagery that Crane creates is absolutely moving. You are not only put in the middle of the Civil Wat, but you become a part of the Union Army, fighting fot the unity of your country. A belief that you would die for. You will feel the anticipation of a soldier right before a battle, as well as the terriffying moral dilema of whether or not you should run away once being fired upon. Crane's characters, although having no direct names, pull you into their lives through their strong diolouge. He who reads this novel will learn so much about themselves, and human nature through just two pages of the wounded man's speech to Henry Fleming, the main character. Who knew that the simple imagery of a wound as a "Red Badge of Courage," would be able to move so many people? the Red Badge of Courge is simply a masterpiece. A book that will forever be capable of sharing the horror's of war to generations far into the future. I strongly recommend that you open your curiosity, heart, and mind, and read the Red Badge of Courage.