Shelby Foote Quotes

I am a historian. I do a lot of research, and I try to get it right.

We released 400,000 classified documents, the most extraordinary history of a war to ever have been released in our civilization. Those documents cover 109,000 deaths. That is serious matter.

With the World War II era, there's so much written material to draw on. When you go back to the 14th century, you have to imagine more.

I've done quite a few things based on real events or real people, and I think that's always really interesting that you can read about them or, if you're lucky, you can meet them.

I believe that historians and analysts of historical events need the authority of facts supplied by living witnesses to the events, which they make their subject.

I always use primary sources, in addition to reading biographies and other materials.

The historian must have some conception of how men who are not historians behave. Otherwise he will move in a world of the dead. He can only gain that conception through personal experience, and he can only use his personal experiences when he is a genius.

I've been reading a lot of books on history, and watching a lot of educational TV. Wikipedia too, even though it is not reliable.

Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.

To be a good researcher is to be a good detective, and I enjoy ferreting out tidbits of information. For a diary book like 'A Coal Miner's Bride,' newspapers come in handy for small everyday details such as weather reports.

I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.

One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society... shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.

The dons of Oxford and Cambridge are too busy educating the young men to be able to teach them anything.

Ironically, the more intensive and far-reaching a historian's research, the greater the difficulty of citation. As the mountain of material grows, so does the possibility of error.

Research can be a big clunker. It's difficult to know how you can make the historical light.

As a historian, I love every little detail, but whole long passages about wood paneling and journeys on horseback and every stop at every inn had to go out the window. I decided the history in the books should be like spice in a soup - a little went a long way. Like cilantro.

I once did an event with Ian Rankin where he said he didn't really need to do much background research because his books are set in the present, and I just thought: 'You lucky, lucky beast!' because as a historical novelist, I live constantly on the edge of wondering whether tissues had been invented.

You need, as a historian, essential triangulation from your subject and the only way you get that triangulation is through time.

I can't read historical fiction because I find the real thing so much more interesting.

The tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting each other - instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals.

I am not someone who believes I am going to find a historical scoop.

Writing an encyclopedia is hard. To do anywhere near a decent job, you have to know a great deal of information about an incredibly wide variety of subjects. Writing so much text is difficult, but doing all the background research seems impossible.

Too rigid specialization is almost as bad for a historian's mind, and for his ultimate reputation, as too early an indulgence in broad generalization and synthesis.

I know of no scholar more dedicated to bringing a thorough and accurate portrayal of America's involvement in Vietnam than Mark Moyar. Everyone who is interested in a full picture of that oft-misunderstood war should be grateful for his effort.

In reconstructing the past, historians generally are compelled to rely on accounts written after the event by participants and witnesses, or on the hearsay versions of those who learned at second-hand what had occurred. Such writings are subject to the infirmities of recollection, or of bias arising from allegiance to one side or the other.