Shelby Foote, novelist and historian, died Monday night. He was 88. A native of Mississippi and a resident of Memphis, Tennessee, since the early 1950s, Foote was best known for his three volume The Civil War : a Narrative. There is a thoughtful tribute in The New York Times.

Shelby Foote was inducted into the Academy of Achievement in 1999. Visit their website for biographical information and an in-depth interview. The University of Mississippi's Mississippi Writers Page also salutes Foote with a biographical essay and a bibliography of books by and about him.

"Most of my inspiration, if that's the word, came from books themselves." -- Shelby Foote, Academy of Achievement Interview