shelby foote , producer of the acclaimed three volume history of the american civil war , the civil union : a narrative , died in memphis on june 27 at age 88 . foote mostly wrote historical literature , titled follow me down and shiloh . he may be best recognized for his participation in filmmaker ken burns ' pbs special , the civil war . the historic librarian ranked foote ' s the northern war : a narrative as number 15 on its list of 100 bad non - fiction book . he was hired to complete a short history of the civil defense by random houses and wrote more than 20 years on the work eventually making the three volumes .
The Civil War: A Narrative is a book written by Shelby Foote.