Shelby Foote Reading Order
5 series · 110 books · Born 17 Nov 1916
Shelby Foote was a prolific American author known for his compelling narratives that blend history and fiction. Active from 1949 until 2023, he authored 110 works, including five series that span Civil War topics, standalone novels, short story collections, and non-fiction. His most notable contribution is the acclaimed three-volume history of the Civil War, which has cemented his reputation as a significant literary figure.
Civil War Series
Complete4 books (1958–1993)
Start with The Civil War, Vol. 1: Fort Sumter to Perryville, the first of 4 books in the Civil War series.
Literary Conversations Series
Likely Complete97 books (1969–2023)
Start with Conversations with Jorge Luis Borges, the first of 97 books in the Literary Conversations series.
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  Conversations with Jorge Luis Borges 1969Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 2 |  Conversations with Czeslaw Milosz 1981Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 3 |  Conversations with Graham Greene 1983Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 4 |  Conversations With Isaac Bashevis Singer 1985Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 5 |  Conversations with Eudora Welty 1985Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 6 |  Conversations with Walker Percy 1985Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 7 |  Conversations with William Styron 1985Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 8 |  Conversations with Ernest Hemingway 1986Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 9 |  Conversations with Lillian Hellman 1986Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 10 |  Conversations with Malcolm Cowley 1986Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 11 |  Conversations with Tennessee Williams 1986Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 12 |  Conversations with Arthur Miller 1987Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 13 |  Conversations with Flannery O'Connor 1987Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 14 |  Conversations with Katherine Anne Porter 1987Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 15 |  Conversations with Peter Taylor 1987Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 16 |  Truman Capote: Conversations 1987Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 17 |  Conversations with Edward Albee 1988Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 18 |  Conversations with Erskine Caldwell 1988Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 19 |  Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut 1988Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 20 |  Conversations with Norman Mailer 1988Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 21 |  Conversations with James Baldwin 1989Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 22 | Conversations with Joyce Carol Oates 1989Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 23 |  Conversations with Robert Graves 1989Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 24 |  Conversations with Robertson Davies 1989Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 25 |  Conversations with Shelby Foote 1989Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 26 |  Conversations with Eugene O'Neill 1990Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 27 |  Conversations with John Gardner 1990Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 28 |  Conversations with Raymond Carver 1990Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 29 |  Conversations with Richard Wilbur 1990Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 30 |  Conversations with Tom Wolfe 1990Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 31 |  Conversations with Bernard Malamud 1991Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 32 |  Conversations with Elizabeth Spencer 1991Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 33 |  Conversations with Reynolds Price 1991Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 34 |  Conversations With Thornton Wilder 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 35 |  Conversations with M. F. K. Fisher 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 36 |  Conversations with Nikki Giovanni 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 37 |  Conversations with Robert Coles 1992Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 38 |  Conversations with Paul Bowles 1993Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 39 |  Conversations with Richard Wright 1993Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 40 |  More Conversations with Walker Percy 1993Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 41 |  Conversations with Amiri Baraka 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 42 |  Conversations with Henry Miller 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 43 |  Conversations with Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 44 |  Conversations with Saul Bellow 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 45 |  Conversations with Toni Morrison 1994Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 46 |  Conversations With S.J. Perelman 1995Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 47 |  Conversations with Chester Himes 1995Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 48 |  Conversations with Ernest Gaines 1995Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 49 | Conversations with Ishmael Reed 1995Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 50 |  Conversations with Ralph Ellison 1995Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 51 |  Conversations with Susan Sontag 1995Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 52 |  Conversations with Derek Walcott 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 53 |  Conversations with Elizabeth Bishop 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 54 |  Conversations with Pauline Kael 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 55 |  More Conversations with Eudora Welty 1996Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 56 |  Conversations with Chinua Achebe 1997Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 57 |  Conversations with N. Scott Momaday 1997Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 58 |  Conversations with V. S. Naipaul 1997Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 59 |  Conversations with Denise Levertov 1998Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 60 |  Conversations with Maxine Hong Kingston 1998Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 61 |  Conversations With John Fowles 1999Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 62 |  Conversations With William Faulkner 1999Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 63 | Conversations with E. L. Doctorow 1999Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 64 |  Conversations with Leslie Marmon Silko 2000Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 65 |  Conversations with Salman Rushdie 2000Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 66 |  Conversations with William S. Burroughs 2000Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 67 |  Conversations with Chaim Potok 2001Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 68 |  Conversations with Christopher Isherwood 2001Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 69 |  Conversations with Richard Ford 2001Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 70 |  Conversations with Clarence Major 2002Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 71 |  Conversations with Erica Jong 2002Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 72 |  Conversations with Jim Harrison 2002Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 73 |  Conversations with Margaret Walker 2002Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 74 |  Conversations with Mary Gordon 2002Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 75 |  Elie Wiesel: Conversations 2002Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 76 |  Conversations with F. Scott Fitzgerald 2003Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 77 |  Conversations with Gwendolyn Brooks 2003Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 78 | Conversations with Rita Dove 2003Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 79 |  Conversations with Stanley Kaufmann 2003Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 80 |  Joseph Brodsky: Conversations 2003Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 81 |  Conversations With John le Carré 2004Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 82 |  Conversations with Audre Lorde 2004Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 83 |  Conversations with Gloria Naylor 2004Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 84 |  Conversations with Ray Bradbury 2004Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 85 |  Conversations with Don DeLillo 2005Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 86 |  Conversations with Gabriel García Márquez 2005Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 87 |  Conversations with Gore Vidal 2005Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 88 |  Conversations with Isaac Asimov 2005Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 89 |  Conversations with Jack Kerouac 2005Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 90 |  Conversations with Robert Penn Warren 2005Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 91 |  Conversations with Thomas McGuane 2006Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 92 |  Conversations with Larry Brown 2007Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 93 |  Conversations with Leon Forrest 2007Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 94 |  Conversations with Sonia Sanchez 2007Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 95 |  Conversations with Wendell Berry 2007Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 96 |  Conversations with Kazuo Ishiguro 2008Buy 🇺🇸 |
| 97 |  Conversations with Jimmy Carter 2023Buy 🇺🇸 |
Non-Fiction Series
Complete3 books (1994–1996)
Start with Stars in Their Courses and read in order.
Short Story Collections Series
Complete1 book (1954–1954)
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 |  Jordan County 1954Buy 🇺🇸 |
Standalone Novels Series
Complete5 books (1949–1978)
Start with Tournament, the first of 5 books in the Standalone Novels series.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many books has Shelby Foote written?
- Shelby Foote has written 110 books across 5 series. Their published works span from 1949 to 2023.
- What is the first book in each Shelby Foote series?
- Here are the first books in Shelby Foote's series: Civil War: The Civil War, Vol. 1: Fort Sumter to Perryville; Literary Conversations: Conversations with Jorge Luis Borges; Non-Fiction: Stars in Their Courses.
- What order should I read Shelby Foote's books?
- We recommend reading Shelby Foote's series in publication order. Each series can be read independently.
- Are Shelby Foote's series complete?
- Shelby Foote has 4 completed series.