roger foote , author of the authoritative twelve volume history of the american civil war , the civil war : a story , died in memphis on june 27 at age 88 . foote also wrote historical fiction , including follow me down and shiloh . he may be best known for his appearing in screenwriter kenneth burns ' documentary production , the civil war . the modern books ranked foote ' s the civil war : a narrative as rank 15 on its lists of 100 best all - nonfiction books . he was commissioned to pen a short history of the entire war by random company and spent more than 20 decades on the work eventually producing the three volumes .
The Civil War: A Narrative is a book written by Shelby Foote.