definition and context

In Sweden, the term 'legitimation" refers to the government-issued ID that is essential for bureaucratic passage in the body politic. Such interesting terms also surface rather quickly in Shelby Foote's massive Civil War Narrative. Unlike War and Peace, Foote does not attempt to either explain the sequence of history or why such questions are meaningless; no, Foote eschews the philosophical mastication of Tolstoy and attempts to only chart the passage the conflagration, offering compelling thumbnails of each major participant and for analysis, he steps leisurely outside the Fog of War and delineates the sequence in rhythmic and elegant sentences which capture completely.

It must be admitted, that this present reading of Foote, much like my earlier quest about Empire and the desert, has been tempered by my country's occupation abroad. It is no surprise, the, that I was struck early in the text by an anecdote concenring the capture of an underfed Virginia militiaman by the Union. He obviously wasn't a slave-owner and he was asked why he was fighting. "Because you're here," was his defiant reply. Much that is regarded as senseless in the headlines these days is lost without such a focus.

Per the question of "Legitimation" and how Davis and Lincoln wished to appear provoked and invaded, if not for the sake of posterity but towards opinions abroad. The popular embrace of Grant after his successes in the western campaign also strikes a familar chord. He was loved as "He loves bad grammar, but it talks it naturally, as much as to say 'I was so brought up, and if I try fine phrasesI shall only appear silly.' "Make your own conclusions.