Rating: 
Summary: He did it before "Killer Angels" but less thorougly...
Review: A tour de force in schema and aproach, (later "The Killer Angels" will use the same brilliantly and bettered the embrio...), anyway I enjoyed the reading of it a lot and was much more reminded of "The Red Badge of Courage" that any other work...
Not perfect as a novel (somehow too short and inconnex)... but still a poignant account of a very much oveshadowed battle from the (fictional) point of view and feelings of the participants.
RECOMMENDED for all ACW buffs. (If a bit romantic try also "UNTO THIS HOUR" you wont be dissapointed...).
Rating:
Summary: He did it before "Killer Angels" but less thorougly...
Review: A tour de force in schema and aproach, (later "The Killer Angels" will use the same brilliantly and bettered the embrio...), anyway I enjoyed the reading of it a lot and was much more reminded of "The Red Badge of Courage" that any other work...
Not perfect as a novel (somehow too short and inconnex)... but still a poignant account of a very much oveshadowed battle from the (fictional) point of view and feelings of the participants.
RECOMMENDED for all ACW buffs. (If a bit romantic try also "UNTO THIS HOUR" you wont be dissapointed...).
Rating: 
Summary: A rare miss for Shelby Foote
Review: Fans of Shelby Foote's massive three volume Narrative History of the Civil War, (and I am the work's biggest fan), will surely find something they like in Foote's earlier novel about the battle of Shiloh. I couldn't help thinking, however, that Foote's real calling is as historian and commentator, and his effort to write a novel here seems to be a bit off the mark.Perhaps unfairly, novels of the Civil War tend to get compared to Michael Shaara's brilliant Killer Angels, a comparison that does not bode well for Shiloh. Here Foote tries to tell the story of the battle by providing first person narratives by a number of foot soldiers and adjutants, who often spend most of the battle lost, since I think Foote was trying to portray the confusion of this first great battle of the Civil War, with about 100,000 soldiers on the field and almost 25% casualties. However his narrative style ends up creating a jumbled mess, with no interaction between the characters, and not enough personal insight to make the reader remember or care about any of the narrators. It seemed to me that Foote the historian is effectively telling the history of the battle and providing biographical info of certain major players, like Albert Sidney Johnston, Ulysses Grant and Nathan Bedford Forrest, and he occasionally throws in a forced reference to a girlfriend back home or a memory from school to remind the reader this is a novel. In particular the very beginning, where assistants tell the reader all about the history of Generals Johnston and Grant (under whom they supposedly serve), seemed contrived. If you enjoyed the campfire banter of Lee and Longstreet in Killer Angels, or the heroic determination of Lewis Armistead to do his duty without harming his good friend Winfield Hancock, you will find nothing comparable here. I should point out that the audio version of this book had an excellent afterword by the author, where Foote puts the battle in context, discusses his views on literature and especially literature about war, and recounts a trip to Shiloh battlefield he made with William Faulkner in 1952 around the 90th anniversary of the battle. Here is Foote at his finest, spinning a yarn and discussing topics including "Grant was drunk" - (which he denies) and "Grant was surprised" (Foote thinks surely he was, which is a testament to his genius as a general). The excellent afterword, which I enjoyed a lot more than novel, elevated this audio set to 3 1/2 stars in my opinion.
Rating:
Summary: Puts the "story" in history
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: An interesting approach to a battle:
Review: I highly regard Foote's earlier works as a author of the Civil War such as his Civil War Trilogy and Vicksburg Beleagured City. Encouraged by his previous books I wanted to try this one. I was a bit discouraged by a novel-like writing although each story is based from history and tends build a great feel and understanding for the battle. In comparison to his Vicksburg book, this can not be done. If you are seeking a book based on events, dates, places, people and casualties this book isn't the one. If you are looking at a fictional character's account backed by history simply to feel certain aspects of the battle this is a great book. It reminds me of Shaara's Killer Angels about Gettysburg though doesn't live up to the expectations set by such a book. It is a mere attempt at fictional characters derived from actual history to portray events. On a brighter note, the writing is descriptive and truly places the reader on or at the events written.
Rating: 
Summary: The Book that Started It All....
Review: Published in 1952, Shelby Foote's fourth novel, attracted minimal public attention, but the critics and individuals in publishing took notice. One of them was Bennett Cerf of Random House who then afforded Foote the oppurtunity to write a short, one volume history of the Civil War. The rest, as they say, is history. Back to the novel. Shiloh is simple enough, a relatively short novel which is simply about what the title says, a story of the April 1862 battle which produced the first battle where the casualties equalled that of Waterloo, some 47 years earlier. Foote does what Michael Shaara would do in his Pulitzer Prize winning Killer Angels nearly 20 years later; view the battle with altering Union and Confederate viewpoints. The difference is that when Foote has a historical character speak (like Ulysses Grant or Nathan Bedford Forrest) it's the words they were definitely known to use at the battle. Nothing on the real life characters is made up. Not that Killer Angels comes up short. It's arguably the greatest Civil War novel ever written, but you can see the blueprint of it in Shiloh. I enjoyed this novel very much. It got me to want to read the three volume narrative. I think that this is probably better than most historical accounts of Shiloh. It's certainly more entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: A battle from each side
Review: Shelby Foote has maintained that he is a story teller above all things. Yet, he has come to be considered a leading expert on the American Civil War because of his trilogy on the war. In Shiloh: A Novel, he gives us a fictional account of the two-day battle of April 1862. Foote tells the story of 6 different participants in the battle, both Union and Confederate. The men are tired, scared, brave, leaders, and runners. The book is short, only 226 pages, but we feel their fear and excitment, even if only for a moment, along with their short-sighted view of the fighting. Here there is no grand view of the entire battle nor of the tactics and planning. These are largely the fighters who carry out the orders, not knowing why most of the time, only that they are soldiers and this is what they do. Originally published well before the Shaara trilogy, Shiloh ranks with them and The Red Badge of Courage in the emotion and story telling. The reader becomes part of the action for a short while, until you can almost smell the gunpowder.
Rating:
Summary: A battle from each side
Review: Shelby Foote has maintained that he is a story teller above all things. Yet, he has come to be considered a leading expert on the American Civil War because of his trilogy on the war. In Shiloh: A Novel, he gives us a fictional account of the two-day battle of April 1862. Foote tells the story of 6 different participants in the battle, both Union and Confederate. The men are tired, scared, brave, leaders, and runners. The book is short, only 226 pages, but we feel their fear and excitment, even if only for a moment, along with their short-sighted view of the fighting. Here there is no grand view of the entire battle nor of the tactics and planning. These are largely the fighters who carry out the orders, not knowing why most of the time, only that they are soldiers and this is what they do. Originally published well before the Shaara trilogy, Shiloh ranks with them and The Red Badge of Courage in the emotion and story telling. The reader becomes part of the action for a short while, until you can almost smell the gunpowder.
Rating:
Summary: a very well-written, powerful war story
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: Good but a little vague
Review: This book was very good when I read it, but it is very vague as to where the people (it's all first person accounts - fiction)are. The first person accounts are very good, and it does show there lives. There were little details that were very accurate that I enjoyed like: "...I saw I was going to have it with a Big Yank wearing his coat unbuttoned half way showing a red flannel undershirt...An it occured to me, the words shooting through my mind: What kind of a man is this, who would wear a red wool undershirt in April?"
This highly shows what the federal government issued, scratchy,red, white, or brown wool-flannel undershirts. I liked that alot. It akso has other little details. Like I said, it's a little vague.
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