---
product_id: 9505209
title: "Stars in Their Courses: The Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863"
brand: "foote"
price: "€ 38.43"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.sk/products/9505209-stars-in-their-courses-the-gettysburg-campaign-june-july-1863
store_origin: SK
region: Slovakia
---

# Stars in Their Courses: The Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863

**Brand:** foote
**Price:** € 38.43
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Stars in Their Courses: The Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863 by foote
- **How much does it cost?** € 38.43 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.sk](https://www.desertcart.sk/products/9505209-stars-in-their-courses-the-gettysburg-campaign-june-july-1863)

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- foote enthusiasts

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## Description

Stars in Their Courses: The Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863

## Images

![Stars in Their Courses: The Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863 - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51b0OSVRqHL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    An historical narrative from a master
  

*by A***R on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 23, 2013*

Shelby Foote.  Stars in Their Courses.  The Gettysburg Campaign. New York. The Modern Library. 1994  Some say that you cannot tell a book by its cover. In the case of Stars in Their Courses. The Gettysburg Campaign (SITC) everything you need to know is revealed on the book jacket. A photo of Shelby Foote dominates the cover and is immediately recognizable as the individual who introduced many of us to the Civil War.  His visage evokes the Southern aristocrat and vaguely resembles Robert E. Lee. Who can forget his avuncular presence and mesmerizing stories in the Ken Burns documentary, The Civil War.  He reeks of authenticity. If he was not present at the Civil War battles, he recalled the details as if he were.  We trust him implicitly. Immediately to the right of the photograph is the book's title. The Stars in Their Course is a biblical reference. According to Judges 5:20, Jael kills Sisera by driving a tent peg through his head, and thereby saving the Jewish people. The Bible informs us that it was fate that doomed Sisera. And it is fate that consumes Foote as he contemplates the meaning of the Civil War.  The literary genre, which Foote employs, is known as narrative history. In his interview with Brian Lamb in 2004 on the C-Span Book Notes, Foote quotes Aristotle to explain what constitutes a good narrative. Aristotle counsels that the account must be well written; the characters must be developed so that they leave a shadow and the story must have a plot.  Foote succeeds by each criterion in SITC  The author developed his writing skills as a novelist rather than as a historian.  He reports that he wrote with a dip pen so that he could have a tactile connection with the words. He never used a computer. What he put down on paper was not revised and he did not allow his editors to change even one word of the prose. In his eyes it was perfect as conceived.  Foote begins his book with an introduction to the characters along with their leit motifs.  He introduces us to Lee, the noble Southern aristocrat, who is careful, yet willing to take risks. . We then learn about Longstreet, the risk aversive colleague. He warned the General that although strategy ought to be offensive, tactics should be defensive.  Ignoring Longstreet is done at one's own peril, as Lee was to find out.We learn about Ewell, the successor to Jackson who unlike Jackson required explicit direction. It was the lack of explicit directions that led the General `s failure to take the high ground and thus doomed the Confederacy to failure.  Jackson died a little over a month prior to Gettysburg.  Nevertheless he haunts the pages of the drama.  Foote informs us that the loss of Jackson was so devastating to Lee, that the latter was unable to even mention his name.  He used the maps drawn by the deceased Jackson and is seemingly led to Gettysburg by Jackson's invisible hand:Lee laid his hand on the dead Jackson's map, touching the region just east of the mountains that caught on their western flanks the rays of the setting sun. "Hereabouts we shall probably meet the enemy and fight a great battle," he said, "and if God gives us the victory, the war will be over"...One of the place names under his hand, as he spoke was the college town of Gettysburg.  The structure of the book and the manner in which the plot unfolds is unusual and often difficult to follow. Unlike most accounts of Gettysburg there is no subdivision based on days. There are 6 numbered chapters, but the chapter divisions seem to have no rationale. We are therefore often left without guideposts as to when events are taking place. Plot digressions add to the confusion. Just when we begin to lose patience with Foote, it becomes clear that the author seems to be remembering events, and it is the vagaries of memory that we are dealing with. As Foote relates in an interview with Brian Lamb, it is in the nature of memory that events tend to fade, until something reminds us and then we remember things in their entirety. It is something in the text that rekindles Foote's memory and he relates these events to us, albeit sometimes out of order.  In describing the campaign, the events of the initial two days are confusing with little apparent direction. All changes as the 3rd day dawns and both sides consider battle. Here Foote remembers the events in their entirety.  There are no digressions and the action proceeds quickly and effortlessly as the characters and the country rush to their fate.  Numerous Northern and Southern officers and generals are killed. The Confederates are soundly defeated and vacate the field. Lee is devastated and takes all the blame.  Even though Foote loves the man, he does not absolve Lee of his failing. He remains true to the facts..  Foote is the master of narrative history and for the most part is a joy to read. But narrative histories are a bit troublesome. History is told as a story. However it is a story wherein we know the ending, raising the question as to why bother with the story at all. The story is necessary if we are to understand the ending. In other words, identification of contingencies is necessary to understand what made the ending inevitable. However, Foote seems to be dissatisfied with such an explanation and seeks a more elusive determinant, viz. fate.  Foote never defines fate and does not seem to equate it with God's will.  It seems to be something in the stars, a concept as old as man himself.  If Foote attributes outcome to fate, we must wonder if Lee or Meade had any influence on the outcome. It would be fun to ask this question of the author. Alas, fate has intervened. Shelby Foote died in 2005.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Well written and easy to follow.
  

*by R***C on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 16, 2023*

Shelby Foote is the best writer I know of with regard to the American Civil War.  He will be missed.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Shelby Foote makes hard subjects easy.
  

*by B***N on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 19, 2022*

A very important subject covered by a master. Be prepared to spend too much time when reading material by this writer. You will get caught without a way to stop.

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*Product available on Desertcart Slovakia*
*Store origin: SK*
*Last updated: 2026-01-24*