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Rating: 
Summary: Foote again at his best.
Review: "The Beleaguered City" is a Modern Library adaptation of part of Foote's masterpiece, "The Civil War." Excerpted for the lay reader, nothing of Foote's careful research or literary skill is lost. While always taking a backseat in American history to Gettysburg (the subject of another Modern Library edition of Foote "Lite"), Vicksburg was arguably the critical campaign of the Civil War -- it permanently severed the Confederacy, guaranteed Federal domination of the nation's premier waterborne trade route, and made the career of U. S. Grant. Foote's history is a delight -- good scholarship and good writing. I recommend it highly to Civil War buffs and casual readers alike. Just like "Stars in Their Courses" however, it suffers from poor maps.
Rating: 
Summary: An Intimate Study of a Crucial Campaign
Review: As the country experiences the greatest philosophical and political division since the Civil War, I return to study the very bloody war that defined America as a nation. The best way to study this war is through the excellent narrative of Shelby Foote, featured in the acclaimed Civil War documentary by Ken Burns.
Shelby Foote has written infinite volumes about the civil war. However, I wasn't ready to immerse myself into those thick encyclopedia-looking things. Instead, I tried to ease myself with The Beleaguered City, which is an excerpt from these volumes. And it was an excellent choice.
This book, gave me an intimate account of what the seventeen-month campaign was like. From the infinite marches, to the bloody battles, the constant skirmishes, the digging of the trenches, was visualized in front of my eyes to the realization that this was one of the bloodiest campaigns the humanity has ever known.
Foote does a great job with the character development as well. From the worried, on the edge, ready to be labeled a scapegoat Grant, he evolves to the "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. The opposite happens with the Confederate generals, as they go from overly confident winners, to being slaughtered battle after battle.
Vicksburg is the turning point of the Civil War, and Shelby Foote is the present day authority on this war. If you want to really understand what happened during this campaign this is the book to buy. The excellent prose, and wealth of details will make it a fascinating read.
Rating:
Summary: Very informative! Just how did Grant take Vicksburg?
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: A signpost to even greater riches
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A signpost to even greater riches
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Excerpt Gives Vicksburg Story Its Due
Review: No one has written about the Civil War with the lyricism and eloquence of Foote. As anyone who has read his delightful three volume history of the Civil War can attest, his novelist background combined with thorough research to produce a classic of American literature and history. This book is an excerpt from the history focusing on the Vicksburg campaign. As one of the most significant campaigns (some argue the most significant) of our national four year drama (and tragedy), this breakout survives its separation from the whole very well. Foote traces the story thoroughly. Vicksburg controlled the Mississippi and was the strong point that thwarted the Union's efforts to cut the Confederacy from Arkansas and Texas. It was a very strong site, with bluffs that commanded the river and thousands of troops. U.S. Grant tried traditional ways to approach the city. His failures led him to perhaps the riskiest, most bold and audacious campaign of the war. Grant here is revealed as the master strategist, commander and decision maker. The story of the first major army to "live off the land" and his swing through Mississippi and the investiture of Vicksburg from the South and East is dramatic and stirring -- and extremely well handled in the more than competent hands of Shelby Foote.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Personal War Story
Review: Shelby Foote is the quentisential Civil War historian and he is at his finest in this exposition of General Grant's campaign to take Vicksburg, Mississippi, called the Gibralter of the West. The book will be read by Civil War buffs with great interest. The richness of detail is incredible. But those who have only a passing interest or knowledge of the Civil War will be captivated. Foote weaves the details of the Union campaign to take Vicksburg and regain control of the Mississippi together with intimate portraits of all the major officers on both sides of the conflict. These historical figures leap off the pages large as life with their quirks, faults and heroic characters described and explained. Foote is not judgmental and not an apologist for the South. He tells the complete story with little editorial. Where Foote does give his opinion it is uniformly well founded, sympathetic and balanced. Best of all Foote is superb dramatist with a skill at picking the right word that amazes. We all know how the Civil War and the Vicksburg campaign ultimately came out. From Foote the story is fresh, the outcome in doubt. The reader is given no definitive clue whether Grant and the Union army will succeed. If you can willingly suspend your recollection of history the story reads like exciting fiction. Whether you are interested in the Civil War or looking for a wonderful read full of well turned phrases, carefully draw characters and an element of suspense, you'll like Foote's fine effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Vicksburg: The Cliff Notes
Review: This is the same type of feel-good no-footnotes-it-just-crowds-the-page pseudo-history for which fiction writer Shelby Foote is famed. Others have written three volume sets on the Vicksburg Campaign (Bearss), but Shelby Foote seems comfortable boiling it down into a novella. It makes for a nice quick read, but others wishing to get their hands dirty with some real history should opt for Bearss, Grabau (98 Days), Winschel, or Timothy B. Smith (Champion Hill).
Rating:
Summary: History at its' best
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: History at its' best
Review: 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.
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