Well, he had a reason and I heard him say it in an interview a few years before he died. He didn't want to get distracted by the constant bibliography addition. He just wrote. That said--what he did right was powerful. He had an amazing memory and it looked (to me) like instant recall on events, dates and people discussed in the interview. No notes. That recall thing can be very helpful. The Resource Librarian at the public library in Greenville, Alabama has it. She is something to watch when she's going after a book with the answer to a question. I wish I could do that.

Shelby Foote wrote of events and politics that surrounded them. If one took the time to look up the records about what he wrote of, I think they would find he was correct 99.9% of the time. He was one of a kind. We're fortunate he was interested in what we are and he devoted a whole lot of time writing about it. It's unfortunate his works can't be used as a primary or secondary source because of the lack of source listings but one can verify much of what he said.

Pam