Talk:Shelby Foote

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Someone should update the information about his death and remove where he currently lives. Tfine80 28 June 2005 18:00 (UTC)

Contents 1 Love Interest ??? 2 Jewishness? 3 Foote and Southern identity 4 Added bits about historical training 5 Photo 6 Ire 7 Citations and References 8 Trivia 9 Quotes 10 Quotation in First Paragraph 11 Fair use rationale for Image:Foote0001.jpg 12 Fair use rationale for Image:Foote0001.jpg

[edit] Love Interest ???

Can we dispense with this TV-based crap language? A person is not "a love interest" in the real world. Either it's a woman, or a man, or a sheep, or whatever. Can we obtain the facts and be a little more specific? Cheers JackofOz 28 June 2005 23:46 (UTC) http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2005-06-28-shelby-foote-obit_x.htm?csp=34

[edit] Jewishness?

If Foote "never felt Jewish", then I'm wondering why there's so much devoted here to his Jewish ancestry. Is this a southern POV that it would be controversial that Foote was Jewish? I don't understand.

For whatever it's worth, anti-Semitism wasn't as strong in the Old South as non-Southerners might expect (though it definitely existed). Several Jewish regiments fought for the Confederacy- Mississippi raised the most, I believe- and there are synagogues in the South dating back to the early nineteenth century. It wouldn't be out of line to have a sentence or two about his heritage and how that affected his outlook and his place in the world, but that huge block of text was definitely inappropriate. Stilgar135 18:49, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

The Secretary-of-State for the Confederate States Of America was Judah P. Benjamin; A Jew.

[edit] Foote and Southern identity

I added a short paragraph about Foote and his relationship with Southern identity, but I'm not overly pleased with it. The point I'm trying to get across is that Foote, as a Southerner, respects the cause, but he's also very clear-eyed about it, to the extent that he holds several beliefs that true neo-Confederate zealots would find abhorent. Despite this, he's still treated with a great deal of respect in the South, because the Narrative does demonstrate sympathy for the CSA, but not the out-and-out reverence of, say, Douglas Southall Freeman. Anyone who can make that section better, please do. Stilgar135 15:56, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Added bits about historical training

As Foote is a major figure among readers of American Civil War history, I added some small comments to point out despite lack of formal historical training he wrote an eminent Civil War tome... ugueghjflhdhklfhkdhaxch.kxhakcjka.jfkc

[edit] Photo

Anyone else feel that image of Foote is a bit ominous at best (and creepy at worst)? Is there a better image we can replace it with? --CPAScott 15:30, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

I like to think of it as exemplifying Southern gothic :p. Off-hand, I know there's an author photo on the most recent hardback edition of the Narrative that shows him as a non-creepy young man, and I'm sure there are a few other author photos out there. The thing is that the current picture exemplifies how Foote is best known to the public: the bearded patriarch/storyteller (as seen in Ken Burns' documentary). Ideally, the article should lead with a picture of the grizzled, older Foote and possibly have a younger picture later on. Maybe a screen capture from the Burns documentary? Stilgar135 19:38, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ire

What does: "He considered Abraham Lincoln and Nathan Bedford Forrest to be the only two authentic geniuses of the war, a belief that raised the ire of Forrest's granddaughter." mean? Why would the granddaughter have ire ("rage, fury") about this statement? Are there any quotes from this (unnamed) granddaughter about Foote? Where is this statement in the Civil War narrative? Unless some sense can be made, this probably should be deleted... ? Scott1329m 20:23, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

I didn't write that, but I remember the Foote anecdote from the Ken Burns documentary that that it's referring to. He told of having interviewed Forrest's grandaughter. When he offered the opinion of Lincoln and Forrest being the war's two "authentic geniuses", she objected to linking the two, saying that "she never thought much of Mr. Lincoln". I agree that the sentence is confusing and could probably just be removed altogether, but having explained it I'll leave that to someone else. Jkiang 03:38, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

In that case, I'll defer editing to someone who has seen the television program. It is interesting to know what that means, however. Who is the granddaughter? Is she a sister of NBF III who was killed in WWII? If so, the NBF III page here doesn't mention his siblings. Scott1329m 11:06, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

I, too, remember the anecdote from the documentary, but I seem to recall reading it somewhere also. If I remember where I read it I'll try to clarify "ire." BeeDub65 03:28, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Citations and References

I've added a couple of citations and an external reference. I'm new to this so please advise if they are incorrect or inefficient. BeeDub65 03:28, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia

Not sure this is relevant but don't want to just throw it away...(Foote's ancestor, Richard Foote, came in 1688 from London to Chotank in King George County, Virginia, to represent his father's interest in settlement of the Brenttown tract.)... BeeDub65 01:04, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Quotes

Most quotes were unsourced. Stored here until sources can be located. BeeDub65 03:33, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Quotes

• "People make a grievous error thinking that a list of facts is the truth. Facts are just the bare bones out of which truth is made."^{[citation needed]}
• "I think making mistakes and discovering them for yourself is of great value."^{[citation needed]}
• On his epic: "They wanted only about two hundred thousand words," Foote recalled, "and it seemed like a good way to spend a year or two." Before finishing one hundred pages, he realized that he would have "to go spread-eagle, whole hog on the thing." (From the biographical sketch in Stars In Their Courses.)
• "I don't think the South ever had a chance to win that war." (From The Civil War).
• "A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library."^{[citation needed]}

Anyone else find "citation needed" tags on an article about Shelby Foote amusingly ironic? 150.101.30.44 (talk) 16:07, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Quotation in First Paragraph

"With geographic and cultural roots in the Mississippi Delta alluvium, Foote's life and writing paralleled the radical shift from the agrarian planter system of the Old South to the Civil Rights era of the New South." Are these the words of historian Dan Carter? If so, they should be enclosed in quotations and attributed to Carter. Also, I don't think it fits in the first paragraph. Perhaps put it at the end? Such a summary makes more sense at the end of the article than the beginning, I think.Cwoodw1 20:01, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

I wrote that. I've never read Dan Carter. I thought of it more an introduction than a summary. BeeDub65 04:37, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:Foote0001.jpg

Image:Foote0001.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 06:29, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

• Templates for bot recognition are not required under fair use. As such, the deletion warning on the image has been removed. Bellwether ^B_C 08:18, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:Foote0001.jpg

Image:Foote0001.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 20:53, 13 February 2008 (UTC)